Injection behavior and modeling of 100 mW broad area diode lasers

The output from a single-frequency, narrow-linewidth GaAlAs diode laser was injected into a 100-mW broad-area diode laser. The injected laser emitted in a single longitudinal mode with up to 80 mW in a single, diffraction-limited, 0.5 degrees FWHM far-field lobe. The angle of the far-field lobe steered with injection frequency and broad-area laser bias current, displaying behavior similar to that observed with injected gain-guided laser arrays. A Fabry-Perot amplifier model which explains the injection behavior in terms of Gaussian beam propagation in a large optical cavity is proposed. The model provides criteria for optimizing locking bandwidth, beam steering, and injection efficiency.>