Dynamics of high-power diode lasers

This review gives an overview of the theory and discusses aspects of space-time modeling of high-power diode lasers. The dynamic interaction between the optical fields, the charge carriers, and the interband polarization are described on the basis of microscopic spatially resolved Maxwell-Bloch equations for spatially inhomogeneous semiconductor lasers. Thereby the influence of dynamic internal laser effects such as diffraction, self-focusing, scattering, carrier transport, and heating on the performance of broad-area or tapered amplifiers as well as the individual device properties (i.e. its epitaxial structure and geometry) are self-consistently considered.