Far-field behavior of injection-locked semiconductor laser arrays

We have developed a computer model of injection-locked gain-guided semiconductor arrays to explain some experimental observations: the creation of a single-lobed far field from a normally double-lobed far field; the increase in the divergence angle of the far-field lobe(s); the shifting of power from one off-axis lobe to the other; and the regression back to a double-lobed far field when the ratio between array power and injection power becomes too large. The model is then extrapolated to look at properties of the index-guided case: inefficient end-element injection but an on-axis single-lobed center-element injection.