Claims
- 1. A phase locked two-dimensional semiconductor laser array comprising:
- a heat sink;
- a common electrode placed on said heat sink;
- a common substrate placed on said common electrode;
- a plurality of individual lasers forming a column arrangement fixed on said common substrate in i columns such that each of said columns has more than one laser in it, and where i equals an integer enumerating any column in said array, each of said individual lasers in a column emitting light towards the lasers next to it in the same column, and wherein each of said lasers in an i.sup.th column is offset with adjacent lasers in columns numbered (i.+-.1); and
- a plurality of slant mirrors fixed on said common substrate so that every one of said individual lasers has one of said plurality of slant mirrors between it and the lasers next to it in the same column, each of said slant mirrors reflecting out of the laser array the light it receives from the individual lasers beside it so that phase locking is accomplished as a result of the colunm arrangement of said plurality of individual lasers by evanescent wave coupling from offsetting adjacent lasers in said column arrangement, and a wavefront emanates from said plurality of slant mirrors.
- 2. A phase locked two-dimensional semiconductor laser array, as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of lasers in an i.sup.th column of said array forms an optical path length of x.sub.i with the slant mirrors adjacent to it so that an optical path length of column number i+1 is x.sub.i+1, which is given by:
- x.sub.i =x.sub.i+1 .+-.n(.lambda./2)
- where:
- i equals an integer enumerating any column in said array; n equals an odd integer; and .lambda. equals a measure of wavelength of the light transmitted out of the array.
- 3. A phase locked two-dimensional semiconductor laser array, as defined in claim 2, wherein each of said plurality of slant mirrors consists of a mirror selected from a group containing:
- optical gratings; 45 degree mirrors; and parabolic mirrors.
- 4. A phase locked two-dimensional semiconductor laser array comprising:
- a heat sink;
- a common electrode placed on said heat sink;
- a common substrate placed on said common electrode;
- a plurality of individual lasers forming a column arragement fixed on said common substrate in i columns such that each of said columns has more then one laser in it, and where i equals on integer, each of said individual lasers in a column emitting light towards the lasers next to it in the same column; and
- a plurality of slant mirrors fixed on said common substrate so that every one of said individual lasers has one of said plurality of slant mirrors between it and the lasers next to it in the same column, each of said slant mirrors reflecting out of the laser array the light it receives from the individual lasers beside it in a wavefront by coupling evanescent waves of adjacent individual lasers, which is accomplished as a result of the column arrangement of said plurality of individual lasers, and wherein each of said slant mirrors in an i.sup.th column of said array forms an optical path length of x.sub.i with the individual lasers adjacent to it so that an optical path length of column number i+1 is x.sub.i+1 which is given by:
- x.sub.i =x.sub.i+1 .+-.n(.lambda./2)
- where:
- i equals an integer enumerating any column in said array; .lambda. equals a measure of wavelength of the light transmitted out of the array; and n equals an odd integer.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4633476 |
Scifres et al. |
Dec 1986 |
|