Interaction of modes and self-stabilization of single-frequency emission from injection lasers

Abstract

Theoretical and experimental investigations are reported of the interaction of spectral modes in an injection laser, including the case of an external dispersive resonator. A theory is proposed of a nonlinear interaction between modes which does not disappear on reduction in the intraband relaxation time and it is shown that this interaction suppresses amplification at relatively small separations (∼1/τ, where τ is the carrier lifetime) from the frequency of a strong mode. Experimental observations are reported of selective self-stabilization of single-frequency emission within a band of width 1/τ. This stabilization effect facilitates generation of highly coherent radiation in injection lasers.