Coherent intracavity coupling of fiber lasers

A schematic of the coupled-laser apparatus that we have employed is shown. Two lasers, each with an independently controlled Er-doped fiber amplifier and a fiber Bragg grating are intracavity coupled using a fiber coupler. We demonstrate that cleaving of the 2 x 2 fiber coupler is not necessary. If cavity feedback is placed after one of the output ports of the coupler, the fiber lasers will self-organize their optical output to minimize the power that is coupled to the other output port. By doing so, the fiber lasers maximize the circulating optical field within the laser cavity and minimize the inversion of the gain medium