Bistability by induced waveguiding in coupled semiconductor lasers

Recently, McInerney, Reekie, and Bradley observed bistability in twin diode GaAs/GaAlAs injection lasers in an external cavity when both diodes were above threshold. We show that this bistability may be explained by a form of self-focusing which is produced by induced waveguiding in the wide stripe lasers. A detailed analysis is performed on a standard model of these diodes in an external cavity. We have found very good agreement between theory and experiment.