high power laser diodes have found a wide range of industrial, space, medical applications, characterized by high conversion efficiency, small size, light weight and a long lifetime. in this investigation, high power 940 nm laser bars were mounted on optimized micro-channel heat sinks (mcc) using ausn/cuw and in soldering schemes. the optimized mcc cooler has decreased pressure drop and increased heat-sinking capability. the improvements in thermal and strain characteristics will be reported through wavelength, thermal rollover, spatial spectrum, smile, and polarization. © 2017 spie.