Title: Progress in brightness, power, and efficiency of semiconductor lasers for high power applications Abstract: Semiconductor lasers are a key component in numerous emerging photonics-enabled technologies, including additive manufacturing, data centers for artificial intelligence, inertial navigation, optical power beaming, photon sail propulsion for interstellar probes, autonomous vehicles, rapid biomedical diagnostics, laser wakefield acceleration, fusion energy, and directed energy systems.  In many of …