Stabilization of broad-area semiconductor laser sources by simultaneous index and pump modulations

We show that the emission of broad-area semiconductor amplifiers and lasers can be efficiently stabilized by introducing two-dimensional periodic modulations simultaneously on both the refractive index and the pump (gain–loss) profiles in the transverse and longitudinal directions. The interplay between such index and gain–loss modulations efficiently suppresses the pattern-forming instabilities, leading to highly stable and bright narrow output beams from such sources. We also determine the stabilization performance of the device as a function of the pump current and linewidth enhancement factor.