Pulse dynamics in an actively mode-locked laser

Geddes, John B. and Firth, William J. and Black, Kelly (2003) Pulse dynamics in an actively mode-locked laser. SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 2 (4). pp. 647-671. ISSN 1536-0040 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1137/S1111111102416599)

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Abstract

We consider pulse formation dynamics in an actively mode-locked laser. We show that an amplitude-modulated laser is subject to large transient growth and we demonstrate that at threshold the transient growth is precisely the Petermann excess noise factor for a laser governed by a nonnormal operator. We also demonstrate an exact reduction from the governing PDEs to a low-dimensional system of ODEs for the parameters of an evolving pulse. A linearized version of these equations allows us to find analytical expressions for the transient growth below threshold. We also show that the nonlinear system collapses onto an appropriate fixed point, and thus in the absence of noise the ground-mode laser pulse is stable. We demonstrate numerically that, in the presence of a continuous noise source, however, the laser destabilizes and pulses are repeatedly created and annihilated.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:2897
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    2003
    Published
    Subjects:Science > Physics > Optics. Light
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Mr Derek Boyle
    Date deposited:09 Feb 2007
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 08:23
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/2897
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