Abstract

A laser field has an intrinsic frequency linewidth due to spontaneous emission. This linewidth (or equivalently the diffusion of the field's phase) limits one's ability to determine precisely the relative phase (or frequency) of two laser fields which diffuse independently. We find that it is possible to correlate the emission into two different laser modes so that the relative phase does not diffuse due to spontaneous emission. We call systems with this property correlated spontaneous emission lasers (CELs).^1,2

© 1987 Optical Society of America