Abstract

We study the operation of a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser when the pump pulse is taken as a Dirac delta function, a limit that is sometimes experimentally reasonable. We find that in this limit the model simplifies considerably and that with further assumptions the physical interpretation of synchronously pumped mode-locked operation becomes apparent. Specifically, our nonlinear dynamical model reduces to the same set of equations that govern a prepumped Q-switched laser, and from this simple picture we are able to derive approximate analytic formulas for the synchronously pumped mode-locked laser pulse width and peak intensity. Additionally, we present a closed-form solution for the output pulse in the limit of zero-cavity-length mismatch between the pump laser and the dye laser.

© 1989 Optical Society of America

Pump pulse effects in synchronously pumped mode-locked dye lasers

D. L. MacFarlane and Lee W. Casperson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6(3) 292-299 (1989)

Analytic theory of a supermodes solution and output criteria for synchronously pumped dye lasers

Xiaoyi Bao
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6(7) 1370-1377 (1989)

Spectral behavior and pulse train instabilities of a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser

D. L. MacFarlane, Lee W. Casperson, and A. A. Tovar
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 5(5) 1144-1152 (1988)

First-order autocorrelations and domain-model mode structure of a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser

M. De Mazière, A. Bouwen, and D. Schoemaker
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6(12) 2370-2375 (1989)

Pump-pulse effects in hybridly mode-locked dye lasers

D. L. MacFarlane and Lee W. Casperson
Opt. Lett. 14(6) 314-316 (1989)