Stabilization of broad-area VCSEL radiation by additional external optical beam

In this paper, the dynamics of a broad-area semiconductor surface-emitting laser with a vertical resonator (VCSEL) is theoretically investigated. The freely generating laser is subject to modulation instability leading to radiation filamentation. A method of injecting external optical radiation to stabilize the dynamics of such a device is proposed. It is shown that a beam of external optical radiation of weak amplitude suppresses both the modulation instability developing in a broad-area VCSEL and the boundaries-induced filamentary dynamics. In addition, varying the beam width of the external optical radiation allows us to obtain various stationary spatial structures (rings and hexagons). The threshold values of the amplitude of external optical radiation necessary for stabilization depending on the beam width of external radiation and the curvature of the pump current profile are determined.