We have used a two-channel fiber laser array for the study of cophasing dynamics in a passively locked laser array for coherent combining. Starting from an in-phase laser emission, the array was unbalanced by a short phase perturbation introduced on one arm. The dynamics for recovery of phase locking and recovery of initial power of the laser array have been characterized. Cophasing was found to be quickly restored, in a few cavity rounds, before the gain dynamics brought back the steady-state power.
© 2011 Optical Society of America