Abstract

Laser arrays allow for large coherent outputs when the emitted light of all the lasers is synchronized. As an example, recently, it was reported that a robust high power coherent output can be obtained with low power semiconductor lasers globally coupled through a common laser if the number of them is above a certain critical value [1]. Other studies have also considered ensembles of oscillators coupled through a common medium [2-4]. All those systems consider the elements coupled all-to-all in a extremely symmetric way, all see the same mean field. Real systems can have several kinds of interactions and while global coupling may be present, pairwise coupling between some elements may also be present. The question of how pairwise coupling changes the results obtained with global coupling remains open. Arguably optical systems are a suitable testbench to address this issue. Global coupling can be implemented as optical feedback. Pairwise coupling can be set by injecting part of light emited by one element into another. By means of optical fibers many coupling topologies can be constructed. Furthermore, by adjusting the feedback phase it is possible to implement attractive or repulsive coupling.

© 2013 IEEE