Spatial evolution of filaments in broad area diode laser amplifiers

Abstract

We report a numerical model that demonstrates the evolution of a uniform array of filaments from random fluctuations in the input of a single-pass semiconductor laser amplifier. We also report the first direct experimental observation of the spatial evolution of filaments in a broad area active grating semiconductor laser amplifier. The observed filamentation shows good agreement with the numerical model. This agreement suggests that such filaments may result from the unstable growth of microscopic fluctuations in the input and/or nonuniformities within the amplifier.