SPATIOTEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FILAMENTATION IN BROAD-AREA SEMICONDUCTOR-LASERS - EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

We experimentally study the spatial and temporal characteristics of fi lamentation in broad-area semiconductor lasers, Near-field measurement s show that the spacing between filaments decreases as either the pump ing level or the linewidth-enhancement factor is increased, Spectral m easurements reveal that spatial filaments are accompanied by periodic or chaotic temporal variations, Our experimental results show excellen t qualitative agreement with a theory based on a linear stability anal ysis of the rate equations for an infinitely wide stripe laser.