title: Enhanced coherence of weakly coupled lasers.
abstract: We present the phase-locking and coherence properties between two weakly coupled lasers. We show how the degree of coherence between the two lasers can be enhanced by nearly 1 order of magnitude after taking into account the effects of coupling on both their phases as well as their amplitudes. Specifically, correlations between synchronized spikes in the amplitude dynamics and the phase dynamics of the lasers allow for an interference pattern with a fringe visibility of 90%, even when the coupling strength is far below the critical value and they are not phase locked.
authors.affiliation: Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Physics of Complex Systems, P.O. Box 26, Rehovot 76100, Israel. michan@weizmann.ac.il
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nixon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fridman
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Friesem
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Davidson