Research On The Experiments Of Laser Diode Array Phase Locked In External Cavity And High-Order Lateral Modes' Locking

Laser Diode Array (LDA) is characterized by its compactness, lightweight, high electro-light conversion efficiency and reliability, etc. It has been widely used in many fields such as optical communication, pumping solid laser, biology and medicine. However the poor spatial coherence of high-power LDA's emitters worsens its output quality and limits its application in some other fields. The method of external cavity can be used to phase lock the LDA and make all the emitters working in the same wavelength. So the LDA's output quality can be improved.The predecessors have done certain theoretical analysis and experimental work on the LDA phase locked in external cavity. They have demonstrated the feasibility of the method and gotten useful research findings. The experimental apparatus system and specific accommodating method of the fast-axis collimating lens are introduced in detail in this article. We realized LDA's phase locking in experiment, even found the phenomenon of high-order lateral modes' locking which has not been reported before.The experimental apparatus system is made up of phase locking system and measuring system. A fast-axis collimating lens and a high reflectivity plane mirror compose the external cavity which is the main part in experiment. The accommodation of fast-axis collimating lens is the first step of the whole experimental system's accommodation. It is also the most sensitive and important step. In this article, we have summarized out the specific accommodating method of fast-axis collimating lens from plenty of experimental processes.