Two-dimensional phase-locked antiguided vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser arrays

4×4 antiguided phase-locked vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays have been fabricated by a selective etching process and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition regrowth. Stable, diffraction-limited output is observed corresponding to either in-phase or out-of-phase mode operation, depending on the interelement spacing width. Calculations indicate resonant leaky-wave coupling occurs for interelement spacings corresponding to an integral number of half-waves of the radiation leakage from each VCSEL region, and the use of interelement loss is effective in suppressing nonresonant modes.