Effect of element width on above-threshold behaviour of antiguided diode laser arrays

The authors analyse the effect of element width on the modal behaviour of resonant antiguided diode laser arrays at high drive levels above threshold. Intra-element gain spatial hole burning causes modes adjacent to the resonant (in-phase) mode to eventually reach threshold, the onset of which is hastened as element widths get larger than the carrier diffusion length; this is in excellent agreement with experimental observations