We describe a novel high power semiconductor laser that employs a shaped unstable resonator waveguide to maintain fundamental spatial mode operation at high power levels. We call this device the SHUR (shaped unstable resonator) laser. By photoetching and regrowth we locate a secondary, nonplanar antiguide, beneath the main part of the waveguide. The lasing mode couples to this secondary guide and experiences lateral antiguiding, which is the basis of the unstable resonator action. Prototype versions of the SHUR laser show a maximum pulsed output power of 770 mW per facet. The focused beam is dominated by a single lobe that contains 47% of the output power. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.