A paper titled “Supersymmetric laser arrays” published in Science by Professors Mercedeh Khajavikhan and Demetrios Christodoulides has been featured in two news articles:
- “Supersymmetry boosts beam quality of laser arrays” in Physics World
- “Single-mode lasing by selective mode pairing” in Science
- “UCF Researchers Develop First Supersymmetric Laser Array” in UCF Today.
Stability through symmetry
A common route to get more light out of a laser system is to couple multiple lasers to form an array. However, instabilities owing to cross-talk and interference between different modes of individual cavities is generally detrimental to performance and could ultimately be damaging to the laser cavities. Hokmabadi et al. applied notions derived from supersymmetry, a theory developed in high-energy physics to describe the make-up and properties of particles, to design a stable array of semiconductor lasers (see the Perspective by Kottos). Based on symmetry arguments, the method is scalable and could provide a practical platform to design and develop complex photonic systems.
