Fig. 1. A schematic of a 2D supersymmetric microring laser array. The main array (red rings) will lase single fundamental supermode. The lossy SUSY partners (blue rings) are generated via SUSY transformation of the main array and will dissipate all the undesired supermodes.
Single-mode high-power lasers with high-gain integration have always been researchers’ pursuit. Intuitively, one would closely pack multiple identical single-mode lasers to form an array for power enhancement. However, due to the coupled nature of the system, conventional laser arrays support multiple transverse supermodes, causing undesired mode competition and leading to irregularity and chaos.
With the help of supersymmetry (SUSY), we developed a generic approach to high-gain integration to obtain single-mode lasing from an evanescently coupled microlaser array. This approach lead to a two order of magnitude enhancement in energy density. This SUSY laser array has all the undesired supermodes dissipated by its lossy SUSY partners, leaving the in-phase fundamental supermode intact.