Experimental study of additive-pulse mode locking in an Nd:glass laser

Author

Spielmann, Christian ; Krausz, Ferenc ; Brabec, Thomas ; Wintner, E. ; Schmidt, A.J.

Author_Institution

Abteilung Quantenelektronik und Lasertech., Tech. Univ. Wien, Austria

Volume

27

Issue

5

fYear

1991

fDate

5/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1207

Lastpage

1213

Abstract

Self-starting additive-pulse mode locking (APM) has been investigated experimentally in a continuous-wave Nd:glass laser. Stress has been put on the study of the self-starting process and relaxation oscillation instabilities. An intensity threshold for self-starting APM is observed and related to the linewidth of the first beat note of the power spectrum of the free-running laser output. Under steady-state conditions, two distinct operating regimes are obtained: mode locking with repetitive self-Q switching and pure mode locking. Increasing the intracavity power gives rise to a strong chirp developing on the mode-locked pulses and to a simultaneous disappearance of self- Q switching

Keywords

Q-switching; laser mode locking; neodymium; solid lasers; additive-pulse mode locking; continuous-wave Nd:glass laser; first beat note; free-running laser output; intensity threshold; intracavity power; mode-locked pulses; operating regimes; power spectrum; relaxation oscillation instabilities; repetitive self-Q switching; self-Q switching; self-starting process; strong chirp; Bandwidth; Chirp; Glass; Laser feedback; Laser mode locking; Mirrors; Neodymium; Optical coupling; Optical pulse generation; Solid lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.83378

Filename

83378