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Physical Review A

Near-threshold behavior of multimode continuous-wave dye lasers with amplitude-modulated pump

Stephen H. Chakmakjian, Stephanos Papademetriou, Karl W. Koch, Carlos R. Stroud

Published Aug 1, 1989• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We use amplitude-modulation techniques to investigate the response of a multimode dye laser when its pump intensity is sinusoidally amplitude modulated. A theoretical model is presented based on a Floquet analysis to obtain the stationary-state first-harmonic response of the population inversion and that of the laser intensity as a function of modulation frequency. We perform experiments in multimode continuous-wave dye lasers to demonstrate the validity of this theory in describing the behavior of multimode lasers operating near the lasing threshold.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.40.1858

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We use amplitude-modulation techniques to investigate the response of a multimode dye laser when its pump intensity is sinusoidally amplitude modulated. A theoretical model is presented based on a Floquet analysis to obtain the stationary-state first-harmonic response of the population inversion and that of the laser intensity as a function of modulation frequency. We perform experiments in multimode continuous-wave dye lasers to demonstrate the validity of this theory in describing the behavior of multimode lasers operating near the lasing threshold.
A stochastic, semiclassical model is developed for a multimode, homogeneously broadened laser with rapid-dipole dephasing (e.g., semiconductor or dye lasers). The theory is valid for systems with a free spectral range that is large compared to the decay rates of the population inversion and the field. Population dynamics including temporal beating effects and relaxation oscillations, spatial-hole burning, coherent-wave mixing, and quantum noise are all included self consistently. A principal restriction of the model, when applied to coupled-cavity systems, is that the modes satisfying the boundary conditions of the gain medium must form a subset of the modes defined by the cavity and that only modes in this subset are above threshold. For typical systems, the model is valid for pump rates up to several times threshold. The effects on the emission linewidth of coherent-wave mixing and the number of modes included in the simulation at various pump rates are discussed.
A short-cavity dye laser has been constructed to study fluctuations arising from quantum noise and mode coupling in multimode systems. Typical dye lasers (i.e., long-cavity) have been found to have cw dynamics that are dominated by coherent wave mixing effects.1 The quantum noise in these lasers also manifests itself as a variance in the buildup times of the laser light intensity. Buildup times of singlemode long-cavity lasers have been studied.2 The relative importance of quantum noise is enhanced in short cavities making the turn-on transient the dominant feature in the laser light fluctuations. We have measured the turn-on transient of individual modes from a multimode short-cavity dye laser following sudden turn-on of the pump power. The shortness of the cavity has the effect of making the decay times of the intracavity field and the molecular population similar. The observed buildup and rise times are compared with those predicted by a semiclassical multimode laser theory with stochastic noise added for several pump rates. Moreover, semiregular oscillations of the total intensity have been observed to occur in short bursts separating intervals of nearly constant cw laser output.
A model using rate equations which allow for quantum noise is used to make a theoretical analysis of the steady-state lasing regime of a cw dye laser. Equations describing the laser performance are derived in the adiabatic approximation neglecting spatial inhomogeneities in the burnup of the active medium. An investigation is made of the stability of steady-state multimode laser action and it is found that this is weak in certain modes. Calculations are made of correlation functions describing fluctuations in the numbers of photons in the modes and fluctuations in the total intensity. Although the fluctuations in individual modes are large, the integrated intensity fluctuates negligibly. An analysis is made of the influence of quantum intensity fluctuations on the attainment of maximum sensitivity in intracavity laser spectroscopy.
Abstract : This thesis describes theoretical and experimental studies of a homogeneously broadened ring dye laser; particularly the two frequency instability in which a bichromatic field emerges from the laser above the instability threshold. The interaction of a bichromatic field with an isolated atomic resonance is examined. The time averaged inversion and the saturated gain exhibit structure in the form of a series of subharmonic resonances. The stability of a strong bichromatic laser field to the growth of a subharmonic probe field is examined. The gain of the subharmonic bichromatic probe field in the presence of the strong bichromatic laser field is calculated. The strong bichromatic field is stable to the growth of the subharmonic fields when the modulation frequency of the strong field coincides with the Rabi frequency of the lasing transition. The existence of chaos in a strongly driven nonlinear system is experimentally investigated in a multimode ring dye laser. A dye laser is pumped with a modulated pump source. The response of the dye laser to commensurate and incommensurate modulations is reported. For commensurate modulations, the dye laser responds in a periodic fashion and the rf spectrum of the dye is composed of a series of harmonics. For incommensurate modulations, the dye laser responds in a quasiperiodic fashion with a broadband rf spectrum.
A semiclassical description for dye lasers is proposed, where the energy-level diagram of the dye molecule is assumed to consist of a continuous bandlike ground state and an excited singlet state. Unidirectional single-frequency (s.f.) operation is discussed. The linear-stability analysis for this operation reveals a very low threshold instability, which may appear generally in practical lasers. The ratio of the instability threshold to the lasing threshold may be of any value greater than 1, depending mainly on the bandwidth and the distribution of the dipole moments on the band, but it is independent of the cavity loss. This instability may account for that observed in recent experiments by Hillman, Krasinki, Boyd, and Stroud [Phys. Rev. Lett. 52, 1605 (1984)]. A general approach to analyzing the linear stability of the s.f. operation of the Maxwell-Bloch equations is also proposed, which states that only the eigenvalues of a 2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2 matrix are relevant: one concerns the stability of the s.f. operation near the lasing threshold, the other determines the instability threshold of this operation.