Modeling of injection-locking phenomena in diode-laser arrays

Abstract

We report the first self-consistent numerical model to our knowledge of the injection-locking process in a gain-guided diode-laser array. This model reproduces two essential features of device behavior seen in recent experiments: (1) the single-lobed far-field output beam that results from injecting a single end-element of the array and (2) the linear dependence of the far-field beam angle on injection frequency. This angular scanning of the far-field beam angle can be understood on the basis of a simple plane-wave picture in which a change in the injection frequency leads to a tilt of the wave front in the diode-laser array in order to maintain the Fabry–Perot resonance condition.