Coupling of polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of highly divergent emission in broad-area square vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

The polarization of highly divergent modes of broad-area square vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers is shown to be only marginally affected by material anisotropies but determined by an interplay of the polarization properties of the Bragg cavity mirrors and of the transverse boundary conditions. This leads to a locking of the polarization direction to the boundaries and its indeterminacy for wave vectors oriented along the diagonal. We point out a non-Poissonian character of nearest-neighbor frequency spacing distribution and the impossibility of single-wave number solutions.