Stability of phase-locked stimulated emission from optically coupled lasers with a nonlinear active medium

An analysis is made of the influence of nonlinearity of the active medium on the stability of phase-locked operation of a large number of optically coupled lasers. The conditions under which large-scale inhomogeneities of the field can grow are determined and the increments and dimensions of the most rapidly growing inhomogeneities are found. A study is made of the stability of phase-locked operation of lasers coupled by the Talbot effect.