Spatial coherence of radiation emitted from injection lasers

An investigation was made of injection lasers with single- and double-sided GaAlAs–GaAs heterojunctions, which were operated in the pulse regime at room temperature. An interferometric method made it possible to determine the spatial correlation functions of the field and intensity of laser radiation. The results demonstrated a relationship between the coherence characteristics and the structure of the emitted transverse modes. These modes were found to have random relative phases.