Phase locking of adjacent channel leaky waveguide CO2 lasers

Abstract

Phase locking has been achieved between two adjacent waveguide CO2 lasers separated by a thin plate of ZnSe. Radiation leakage from one waveguide to the other through the ZnSe causes the phase locking, and stationary interference fringes demonstrate the relative phase stability. Both waveguide lasers are excited by dc discharges and operate on one of several P or R transitions in the 10.4-μm band. Phase locking occurs whenever both waveguides are on the same transition. An n by m array of such phase-locked lasers has the potential of nearly an (n×m)2 increase in the peak of the lasers’ far-field irradiance distribution.