Abstract

The time domain approach to modeling modelocked lasers involves following a pulse around the cavity, recording the gain, loss, pulse broadening, pulse shortening and pulse delay, and finding a pulse shape that will reproduce itself after one complete round trip [1-3]. Such a self-consistent solution does not automatically guarantee stability against noise nor does it guarantee a proper accounting of behavioral traits that are a consequence of remote details of the pulse and laser cavity. Nevertheless the fundamental pulse shape in a modelocked laser has been shown to be generally stable [4].

© 1984 Optical Society of America