Radiation phase locking in an array of globally coupled fibre lasers

A model of an array of globally coupled fibre lasers, with the same fraction of the total output beam returned to each laser, is considered. The basic element of the model is a single laser controlled by an external signal. The output power of each laser in the array is found as a function of small-signal gain and frequency detuning. The maximum efficiency of phase locking and minimum fraction of output radiation that is necessary to form a feedback are calculated as functions of the number of lasers in the array. It is shown that gain saturation increases the efficiency of coherent beam summation in arrays containing up to 20 lasers.