Single-lobe symmetric coupled laser arrays

Abstract

We propose a new high-power laser in which an array of N lasers is coupled to another of N + 1 lasers through Y-junctions. The field distributions of the eigenmodes in the N-array are identical to those of the supermodes in the evanescently coupled laser array. The threshold gain for the lowest-order mode is much lower than the higher-order modes. This strong mode discrimination will enable very high-power single-lobe operation.