An optical power of over 160 mW has been successfully achieved using 1.625-p.m strained multiple quantum well lasers at a forward current of 800 mA in pulsed operation. Such high power is achieved by optimizing the separated confinement heterostructure layer thickness. The operating life of high power I .625-gm lasers has been estimated from the results of accelerated aging at 45 °C , and 300 mA and 500 mA under continuous-wave operation. No significant change in optical output power was observed up to 4500 hours. The mean-time-to-failure at driving currents of 300 mA and 500 mA, at an ambient temperature of 45 °C, are estimated to be about 4.2x1O' hours and 3.5xl O hours, respectively.