Phase locking of lasers with Gaussian coupling

Abstract

A unique approach for steady in-phase locking of lasers in an array, regardless of the array geometry, position, orientation, period or size, is presented. The approach relies on the insertion of an intra-cavity Gaussian aperture in the far-field plane of the laser array. Steady in-phase locking of 90 lasers, whose far-field patterns are comprised of sharp spots with extremely high power density, was obtained for various array geometries, even in the presence of near-degenerate solutions, geometric frustration or superimposed independent longitudinal modes. The internal phase structures of the lasers can also be suppressed so as to obtain pure Gaussian mode laser outputs with uniform phase and overall high beam quality. With such phase locking, the laser array can be focused to a sharp spot of high power density, useful for many applications and the research field.