Abstract

K rtner et al recently presented [1] an interesting link between the dynamics of an actively mode-locked laser model and "transient gain", a proposed mechanism for fluid turbulence We show that the results of [1] are considerably more general than the model used, and we link these results to the Petermann excess noise parameter [2] De-synchronisation between the modulator period T_M and the lound trip time T_K of the laser cavity is shown to readily give rise to very large Petermann factors. The resultant huge excess noise can de-stabilise the laser, leading to a kind of turbulence

© 2000 IEEE