Study on a broad-area laser diode with external cavity feedback

The external cavity feedback of a broad-area laser diode is investigated. In Fourier optic methods, the inserted prism in an external cavity can be interpreted as a spatial filter in the Fourier plane of the laser diode. The transverse mode can be selected by changing the position of the filter. As the result of a self-consistency theoretical analysis, the output beam of the external cavity has a single-lobed far-field profile. It agrees well with the experiment result. The beam times-diffraction-limit-factor M² is measured to be 1.16.