Silicon impurity induced disordering has been used to fabricate lasers with reduced facet absorption (facet windows) exhibiting enhanced catastrophic facet damage levels over comparable nonwindow devices. Power levels of 1.2 W cw were obtained from uncoated output facet devices and 2.1 W cw were obtained for a device with a coated output facet. Evidence is presented that the window region formed by silicon diffusion is a low‐loss waveguide which confines the propagating wave, increasing the efficiency of the device.