COHERENT EMISSION OF A LINEAR-ARRAY OF CO 2 WAVE-GUIDE LASERS WITH A SPATIAL FILTER

Experimental and numerical investigations were carried out of phase lo cking of a linear array of CO2 waveguide lasers with a spatial Mer, as a function of the width of the blocking parts of the filter and of th e displacement of the filter across the optic axis A calculation was m ade of the elements of a matrix representing optical coupling between the lasers and of the distribution of the fields bf the collective mod es At low values of the coupling coefficients, there was a possibility of transient regimes with partial phase locking of the fields, leadin g to a considerable increase in the time-averaged brightness of the ou tput radiation compared with independent emission from the individual lasers.