SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF THE RADIATION IN THE FAR ZONE OF INASSB INASSBP MESASTRIP LASERS AS A FUNCTION OF CURRENT/

The far-zone directional pattern of diode mesastrip lasers with a 10 m u m wide strip has been investigated as a function of the current. The directional pattern in the plane of the p-n junction contains one lon gitudinal mode, whose width depends on the current. It is shown by com paring the theoretically computed and experimentally measured spatial modes that this dependence is determined by the variation of the light flux intensity and the free-carrier density distributions over the st rip width as a function of the current. In the case when the distribut ions are close to uniform the maximum narrow spatial longitudinal mode and a unimodal radiation spectrum are observed. (C) 1998 American Ins titute of Physics.