Patent ID: 7286578

Claim:
A diode laser system comprising a diode amplifier including an amplifying medium for amplifying a number of spatial modes of a spatial light distribution; and a number of passive reflective members forming a laser cavity including at least a part of the amplifying medium, each of the passive reflective members being adapted, during operation, to reflect light at least partially into the amplifying medium; wherein at least a first and a second one of the number of passive reflective members are non-parallel to each other causing at least respective first and second light beams to propagate in corresponding first and second directions through the amplifying medium, the first and second directions defining a predetermined angle between them and causing the first and second light beams to induce, during operation, a dynamic gain and refractive index grating in the amplifying medium; and wherein the predetermined angle is selected large enough to cause the dynamic gain and refractive index grating to selectively diffract one of said spatial modes and suppressing at least a part of the remaining spatial modes of said spatial light distribution; and wherein the predetermined angle is selected small enough to cause the dynamic gain and refractive index grating to have a fringe spacing larger than the characteristic diffusion length of the amplifying medium.