A system and process for automatically characterizing a plurality of external cavity semiconductor laser chips on a semiconductor laser bar separated from a semiconductor wafer. The system includes a diffraction grating and a steering mirror mounted on a rotary stage for rotating the diffraction grating through a range of diffraction angles. A laser bar positioning stage for automatically aligning each laser chip in a laser bar with the diffraction grating. Reflecting a laser beam emitted from a laser chip in a laser bar with diffraction grating and steering mirror to the laser analyzer. Automatically rotating the diffraction grating through a range of diffraction angles relative to the laser beam and automatically characterizing the laser optical properties such as spectra, power, or spatial modes with the laser analyzer at each diffraction angle.