The starting mechanism in coupled-cavity modelocked laser systems

Author

Lobad, Ahmed I. ; Rodney, Paul J. ; Mehta, S.M. ; Tousley, Bradford C. ; Fauchet, P.M.

Author_Institution

Lab. for Laser Energetics, Rochester Univ., NY, USA

Volume

30

Issue

3

fYear

1994

fDate

3/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

812

Lastpage

817

Abstract

We present what we believe to be the starting mechanism in coupled-cavity additive pulse modelocked (APM) laser systems. The etalon effect of the coupled cavity forces the main cavity to lase at two separate frequencies, thus producing short and strong mode beating “noise bursts” that can overcome dynamic gain saturation in large emission cross-section gain media. As a result, self-starting is possible for the NaCl:OH coupled-cavity color center laser. The dependence of the etalon effect on the cavity length detuning and its role in the dynamics of the APM process and in self-stabilized picosecond coupled-cavity lasers are discussed. The experimental observation of THz-mode beating fluctuations produced by the mode structure of a coupled-cavity NaCl:OH color center laser supports our model

Keywords

OH^--centres; colour centre lasers; laser cavity resonators; laser mode locking; laser modes; laser tuning; sodium compounds; NaCl:OH; NaCl:OH coupled-cavity color center laser; cavity length detuning; coupled-cavity additive pulse modelocked laser systems; dynamic gain saturation; etalon effect; large emission cross-section gain media; main cavity; mode beating fluctuations; mode structure; self-stabilized picosecond coupled-cavity laser; self-starting; separate frequencies; starting mechanism; strong mode beating noise bursts; Additives; Fiber lasers; Fluctuations; Laser modes; Laser noise; Optical coupling; Optical fiber couplers; Optical pulses; Pulse modulation; Solid lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.286173

Filename

286173