Abstract
Broad-area diode lasers operate with impressive amounts of optical power and are attractive due to their compactness and simplicity of operation. Unfortunately, these lasers tend to oscillate in multiple spatial and longitudinal modes and their coherence properties are consequently rather poor. We have investigated a new technique for improving the temporal and spatial coherence of high-power diode lasers. The technique is based on feedback from an external mirror. We show that an important mechanism for improving the coherence of the broad-area laser is that a four-wave mixing interaction process takes place inside the active gain medium. The four-wave mixing interaction gives stable non-linearly guided modes in the broad-area semiconductor laser. The induced four-wave mixing gratings lead to selective amplification of one spatial mode and suppression of all other modes. The laser system operates with an almost diffraction-limited output beam. Experimental verification using four-wave mixing interaction in a GaAlAs gain material is reported.
© 2003 Optical Society of America
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