Experimental observation of traveling waves in the transverse section of alaser

The selection of a transverse traveling wave by an inhomogeneous pump profi le has been experimentally observed in a class B laser structure. The laser structure consisted of a wide-aperture edge-emitting laser diode operating in pulsed mode to avoid thermal guiding effects. The injection current's p rofile was modified from the usual top-hat configuration to a Lorentzian-li ke profile by the inclusion of a 10-mum p-type expitaxial spreading layer. Spatial dependance of the far field on the near field was observed. The sam e behavior is also demonstrated numerically by use of Maxwell-Bloch equatio ns for semiconductor lasers. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.