Abstract
Passive modelocking is a critical tool for achieving sub-picosecond pulses, not only in fiber lasers, but in many other laser systems as well. Passively modelocked laser systems have been studied to date using two almost diametrically opposite approaches. In the first approach, which is computational, one simulates the entire evolution of light within the laser, starting from noise. In the second approach, which is analytical, one uses an idealization in which the pulse evolution during a single pass through the laser is assumed to be small to obtain a simple equation, closely related to the Ginzburg-Landau equation, which describes the evolution. One then determines the equilibria of this equation and their stability. Determining the stability is a crucial step since only stable equilibria can occur in nature; yet, it is a step that is hard to carry out analytically, and work to date1,2 has relied on approximate methods which require considerable a priori physical insight into the form that the most unstable perturbations will have.
© 1993 Optical Society of America
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