激光因相干性好、方向性好、单色性好等优点得到了广泛的应用,但是,激光的高相干性会带来严重的散斑现象,导致其在显示和成像领域的应用受到限制。通过对激光腔的几何形状和激光振荡反馈机制的创新,对激光的模式数量、模场的空间分布调控发展而来的低相干性激光器正日益受到重视。本综述详述了五种低相干性激光,包括随机激光、简并腔激光、混沌腔半导体激光、近共心腔半导体激光、哑铃形腔半导体激光的发展历史、产生机理及现存的问题,为低相干性激光器的发展方向和应用提供决策参考。

Laser has been widely used because of its high coherence, high directivity, and good monochromaticity. However, the high coherence of laser will cause serious speckle effect, which leads to great resistance to its application in the display and imaging field. By introducing the innovation of laser cavity geometry and laser oscillation feedback mechanism, and controlling the number of lasing modes and modes spatial distribution, high-coherence lasers can be developed into low-coherence lasers, which are gaining more and more attention. In this review, we elaborated on the development history, generation mechanism, and existing problems of five low-coherence lasers including random lasers, degenerate cavity lasers, chaotic cavity semiconductor lasers, near-concentric cavity semiconductor lasers, and dumbbell-shaped cavity semiconductor lasers. This review provides a decision-making reference for the development direction and application of low-coherence lasers.