Pulse trapping and nonequilibrium spatiotemporal wave mixing in broad-areasemiconductor losers

The trapping and dynamic nonequilibrium spatiospectral mixing of two nonres onant picosecond pulses injected into the active area of a broad-area semic onductor laser are investigated on the basis of spatiotemporal numerical si mulations. The spatiotemporal dynamics of the nonequilibrium Wigner distrib utions of the charge carriers and the interband polarization reveal the spa tiospectral wave mixing and spatiospectral nature of self-focusing, propaga tion-induced hole burning, dynamic nonlinear waveguiding, and interference effects. This interplay of effects is identified as the origin of the pulse merging and of the subsequent formation of a trapped pulse that is reminis cent of a spatial optical soliton. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America. [S0 740-3224(98)00712-7]. OCIS codes: 140.0140, 140.5960, 140.3430, 190.0190, 1 90.5530, 190.7070.