Phase-locked laser arrays revisited

Over the past decade major breakthroughs have occurred, both in theory and experiment, that have allowed phase-locked arrays of semiconductor laser diodes to meet their promise of reliable, high-continuous-wave (CW) power (/spl cong/0.5 W) operation in diffraction-limited beams as well as multiwatt (5-10 W) near-diffraction-limited peak-pulsed-power operation. In this review the authors describe a corrected picture for the array modes, arrays of antiguides and the concept of resonant leaky-wave coupling, and relevant recent results.