Dynamical behaviour of laser diode arrays

The authors´ simple model goes some way to explaining the experimentally observed instabilities in semiconductor laser arrays in terms of the violation of phase locking criteria. For a simple two-device array the authors have shown that realistic parameter variations are sufficient to destabilize the output, although small variations can still be tolerated. They have also shown that in the case of a globally interconnected array, phase locking is strongly dependent on both the spread of natural frequencies present and the phase angle with which the fields are coupled. Particularly significant is the result that a coupling phase of π|2 the phase difference occurring between evanescently coupled fields in index guided semiconductor laser arrays-appears to preclude phase locking. The results are believed to be relevant to the design of spatially and temporally coherent laser array structures