Analysis of pattern formation in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with feedback of a volume Bragg grating

Broad area VCSELs with frequency-selective feedback (FSF) from an external self-imaging cavity showed interesting effects like laser spatial solitons at threshold. In this paper, the authors investigate the influence of FSF on the spatially extended state of the VCSEL much further above threshold and contrast it to the behavior of an external cavity closed by a normal mirror. The paper also investigates deviations from the self-imaging condition. This meets interest of controlling the sign of diffraction.