Abstract:

We study the multimode operation regimes of midinfrared quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), taking into account nonlinear phase-sensitive interactions between transverse modes. We show the possibility of the coherent coupling of several transverse modes, which results in a number of interesting effects including frequency and phase locking between transverse modes, bistability, and beam steering. We present an analytical model for the modal dynamics and its numerical analysis. Effects of amplitude and phase fluctuations on the modal stability are explored. The theoretical results are in agreement with our experimental measurements of buried heterostructure QCLs. (C) 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [DOI: 10.1117/1.3498773]