Gain saturation in 60-fs mode-locked semiconductor laser

A passively mode-locked optically-pumped InGaAs/GaAs quantum well laser with an intracavity semiconductor saturable absorber mirror emits sub-100-fs pulses. Pulse energy declines steeply as pulse duration is reduced below 100 fs due to gain saturation. © 2010 Optical Society of America.

Gain bandwidth characterization of surface-emitting quantum well laser gain structures for femtosecond operation

We present a method to experimentally characterize the gain filter and calculate a corresponding parabolic gain bandwidth of lasers that are described by "class A" dynamics by solving the master equation of spectral condensation for Gaussian spectra. We experimentally determine the gain filter, with an equivalent parabolic gain bandwidth of up to 51 nm, for broad-band InGaAs/GaAs quantum well gain surface-emitting semiconductor laser structures capable of producing pulses down to 60 fs width when mode-locked with an optical Stark saturable absorber mirror. © 2010 Optical Society of America.

Optimization of dynamic properties and link performance for directly-modulated gain-coupled DFB lasers

This paper demonstrates the respective roles that combined gain- and index-coupling play in the dynamic properties and overall link performance of DFB lasers. It is shown that for datacommunication applications, modest gain-coupling enables optimum transmission at 10Gbit/s.

Gain saturation effects of a flowing chemical oxygen-iodine laser

A new oxygen-iodine medium gain model is developed to include pumping and deactivation of the upper laser levels of the iodine atoms, hyperfine and translation relaxation, as well as the flowing effect. The rate equations for gain of a supersonic flowing cw oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) are described when the medium is stimulated by a single-mode field. The general solution of the self-consistency integral equation is obtained. The result shows that the saturation behaviour in low pressure of the COIL differs from both the inhomogeneous and homogeneous broadening, and exhibits an 'anomalous' saturation phenomenon.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FLOWFIELD IN A SUPERSONIC COIL WITH AN INTERLEAVED JET CONFIGURATION AND ITS EFFECT ON THE GAIN DISTRIBUTION

In a supersonic chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) operating without primary buffer gas, the features of flowfield have significant effects on the Laser efficiency and beam quality. In this paper three-dimensional, multi-species, chemically reactive CFD technology was used to study the flowfield in mixing nozzle implemented with a supersonic interleaving jet configuration. The features of the flowfield as well as its effect on the spatial distribution of small signal gain were analyzed.

Numerical analysis of spatial evolution of the small signal gain in a chemical oxygen-iodine laser operating without primary buffer gas

A chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) that operates without primary buffer gas has become a new way of facilitating the compact integration of laser systems. To clarify the properties of spatial gain distribution, three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology was used to study the mixing and reactive flow in a COIL nozzle with an interleaving jet configuration in the supersonic section. The results show that the molecular iodine fraction in the secondary flow has a notable effect on the spatial distribution of the small signal gain. The rich iodine condition produces some negative gain regions along the jet trajectory, while the lean iodine condition slows down the development of the gain in the streamwise direction. It is also found that the new configuration of an interleaving jet helps form a reasonable gain field under appropriate operation conditions. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gain saturation in gas flow and chemical lasers

A theoretical model for gain saturation in gas flow and chemical lasers is presented. The theory is applicable to all possible numerical values of τ/τc, where τ is the characteristie flow time for the flowing gas to move across the laser action region and τc is the characteristic collision relaxation time. The saturation effects of the convection and the "source flow" of the inverted population are revealed. A general relation of gain coefficient and some new gain saturation laws are obtained. For the special case of τ/τc1, the present theoretical results agree with the experimental results on the "anomalous" saturation phenomena in the supersonic diffusion HF chemical laser determined recently by Gross and Coffer[8]. The theory also agrees with the measured results of saturation intensity varying with τ/τc in gas flow CO2 lasers[7]. For the special case of τ/τc1, the present theory is consistent with both the standard theory[1] for gas lasers where the gas has no macroscopic motion and the known gain saturation theory[2-5] for gas flow and chemical lasers.