Abstract

Calculations of the longitudinal mode functions for the electric field of a compound-cavity laser show that the loss and gain coefficients are given by the Airy formula, as a function of the mode frequencies. Further, when the external cavity is longer than the gain-medium cavity, the frequency dependence of the gain is stronger than that of the loss, even when the intracavity surfaces are antireflection coated. These results provide a generalization of the oft used dielectric-bump model, in which the intracavity reflectivity has a lower bound fixed by the index mismatch at the interface between the gain medium and the external cavity.

© 1993 Optical Society of America

Turn-on transient dynamics in a multimode, compound-cavity laser

S. E. Hodges, M. Munroe, W. Gadomski, J. Cooper, and M. G. Raymer
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14(1) 180-190 (1997)

Passive mode locking in standing-wave laser resonators

Ferenc Krausz and Thomas Brabec
Opt. Lett. 18(11) 888-890 (1993)

Femtosecond pulse generation by linear external-cavity mode locking in a bulk Nd:glass laser

G. Sargsjan, F. Reissmann, M. Müller, R. Gase, and G. Wiederhold
Opt. Lett. 18(17) 1450-1452 (1993)

Electrically pumped mode-locked vertical-cavity semiconductor lasers

Wenbin Jiang, Mitsuaki Shimizu, Richard P. Mirin, Thomas E. Reynolds, and John E. Bowers
Opt. Lett. 18(22) 1937-1939 (1993)

Effect of additive-pulse mode locking on an external-cavity surface-emitting InGaAs semiconductor laser

K. Watanabe, H. Iwamura, and Y. Yamamoto
Opt. Lett. 18(19) 1642-1644 (1993)