Abstract
The key problem in laser noise theory is the connection between cavity losses and field fluctuations. For a stable-cavity laser, the solution to this problem is textbook material. It has been predicted since the 1980s and recently confirmed experimentally1,2 that unstable cavities have an excess noise (quantified by a factor K) that cannot be derived from the losses. The character and origin of this excess noise are not well understood; a quantum theory is lacking. In a semiclassic description, excess noise is due to mode nonorthogonality (which is not necessarily related to losses).3 The nonorthogonality may refer to transverse eigenmodes,1,2 leading to Ktrans’ or to longitudinal eigenmodes, leading to Klong.4 Also very recently, nonorthogonality of polarization eigenmodes was shown to lead to excess noise, Kpool.5
© 1998 Optical Society of America
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