A composite-resonator mode description of coupled lasers

We investigated the behavior of two lasers operating with coupled resonators. Our analysis involves a decomposition of the laser field in terms of the passive composite resonator eigenmodes. The interaction between the laser field and the active medium is found to lead to mode coupling, The dominant coupling mechanism is cross saturation among composite-resonator modes. The effects of cross saturation on the output of the coupled lasers are investigated. Our results are valid for all values of coupling between lasers. Examples of lockbands calculated using the composite-resonator mode analysis are presented.