Injection laser with periodic modulation of the parameters parallel to the mirrors

An analysis is made of a distributed analog of a multielement phased laser comprising a broad injection laser with periodic modulation of various parameters parallel to the mirrors. The case when the modulation period is much greater than the wavelength of light is discussed. The single-mode approximation is used to show that the laser characteristics, in particular the field structure and the angular distribution, are governed by the effect of a spatial parametric resonance of a smooth envelope of the laser field. The lasing threshold, frequency, and amplitude of the field are determined as a function of the injection current and the modulation parameters. It is found that the resonance may be suppressed by varying the modulation. The form of the laser angular distribution is discussed.