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Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

Theory of a One-Dimensional Laser with Output Coupling –Linear Theory–

Kikuo Ujihara

Published Aug 1, 1976• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The spatial behavior of the field of a one-dimensional laser having a partial transmission in its cavity wall is analysed. The partial transmission allows coupling between the field inside the laser cavity and that of outer space (output coupling). A formulation is developed in which the field is described in terms of many normal modes of the "universe", i.e. , the whole space incluing the cavity. The transient building-up of the field is considered under the assumption that the atoms have a constant population inversion. Noise is ignored. The equations for the modes of the universe are converted into a single equation for the electric field which displays very clearly the space-time structure of the laser action. Cavity resonant modes (lossy quasi-modes) are shown to be excited and to produce outgoing waves outside the cavity. The threshold population inversion and the oscillation frequency at the threshold are derived.

DOI
10.1143/jjap.15.1529

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In this chapter, a one-dimensional optical cavity with output coupling is con-sidered. The optical cavity has transmission loss at one or both of the end surfaces. The classical, natural cavity mode is defined, and decaying or growing mode functions are derived using the cavity boundary conditions. A series of resonant modes appears. But these modes are not orthogonal to each other and are not suitable for quantum-mechanical analysis of the optical field inside or outside of the cavity. Hypothetical boundaries are added at infinity in order to obtain orthogonal wave mode functions that satisfy the cavity and infinity boundary conditions. These new mode functions are suitable for field quantization, where each mode is quantized separately and the electric field of an optical wave is made up of contributions from each mode. Some results of quantization are described in the next chapter. Chapter 3 deals with the usual quasimode model: a perfect cavity with distributed internal loss or with a fictitious loss reservoir.

•Apr 26, 2010•1 citation
The spatial behavior of the field of a one-dimensional laser having a partial transmission in its cavity wall is analysed. The partial transmission allows coupling between the field inside the laser cavity and that of outer space (output coupling). A formulation is developed in which the field is described in terms of many normal modes of the "universe", i.e. , the whole space incluing the cavity. The transient building-up of the field is considered under the assumption that the atoms have a constant population inversion. Noise is ignored. The equations for the modes of the universe are converted into a single equation for the electric field which displays very clearly the space-time structure of the laser action. Cavity resonant modes (lossy quasi-modes) are shown to be excited and to produce outgoing waves outside the cavity. The threshold population inversion and the oscillation frequency at the threshold are derived.
In a previous paper we considered the linear problem of a one-dimensional laser having output coupling. In this paper we derive the nonlinear equation for the same model of the laser and solve it for steady state. The output coupling is exactly taken into account and the field is treated as having a continuous spectrum composed of the normal modes of the universe. Damping terms for the atomic polarization and for the population inversion are introduced phenomenologically. The fluctuating forces due to these damping terms and to the initial field are ignored. The resultant field inside the cavity consists of two oppositely travelling waves whose amplitudes are functions of the distance from the coupling surface. Outside the cavity we have a monochromatic, outgoing wave whose amplitude does not change with distance. The threshold inversion and the oscillation frequency are the same as those derived in the linear theory.
Subthreshold operation of a one-dimensional laser having output coupling is analyzed quantum mechanically under the assumption of constant population inversion. The conventional quantum Langevin theory of the laser is improved in that the spatial behavior of the field is treated exactly by use of a multimode formulation of the field of the universe. This formulation allows the thermal noise to be derived automatically without introducing any artificial damping mechanism for the field; this noise comes from the statistical nature of the initial state of the field. The analysis shows that the cavity quasimodes are excited, that the linewidth formula differs from that of a conventional theory by a factor determined by the field distribution excited in the cavity, and that, outside the cavity, the quantum-mechanical coherence function is propagated with the velocity of light.
The quantum theory of a one-dimensional optical cavity is developed with emphasis on the presence of output coupling. First the resonant mode is defined and calculated classically. Then the field is decomposed into a sequence of modes by introducing an imaginary boundary at a large distance. The mode functions are proved to be orthogonal with respect to an integration with the dielectric constant as a weighting factor. The Hamiltonian of the field is shown to be equivalent to that of a collection of independent harmonic oscillators, the mass of which is a function of the frequency of oscillation. This equivalent of mass appears on normalizing the mode functions and proves to carry information on the structure of the cavity. Quantization of the field is carried out, and the commutation relation for the electric fields inside and outside the cavity is derived. The commutator is composed of an infinite set of derivatives of $\ensuremath{\delta}$ functions, which discloses the effect of the presence of output coupling and that of the small size of the cavity on the radiation field. Also, the commutator is shown to have some properties common with the classical resonant mode, i.e., the property of exponential decay and its rate.
A simple model of a one-dimensional optical cavity having output coupling is used to develop a fully quantized linear laser theory. The present model and procedure, which work directly within the continuous spectrum, allow us to find a simple treatment that leads to explicit solutions for the field inside and outside the laser cavity. The threshold condition for laser light onset is obtained by assuming the field operating in a single collective mode and the usual adiabatic hypothesis. A development that removes this later restriction is also discussed and outlined.
The quantum theory is developed for an arbitrarily stratified one-dimensional optical cavity which transmits light at one of its end The field is expanded in terms of the modes of the universe and each universal mode is quantized separately by means of the usual method. A class of coherent states which yields oscillation wave shapes of the cavity quasimodes as the field eigenvalue is studied. A state of this class gives an eigenvalue for the annihilation operator of a universal mode which is an analytic function of the mode frequency except for a mode-dependent phase factor. The mathematical meaning of the phase factor is studied. A new scheme of field quantization is developed which absorbs the above phase factor and yields simpler forms of the eigenvalue equations for the above class of states. For a state of the class, the local intensity, its fluctuation, and the various correlations of the field decay with time. For the local field inside or outside of an optical structure which is coupled to the free space, the almost definite phase relationship among the universal modes plays a decisive role.
In this chapter, a one-dimensional optical cavity with output coupling is con-sidered. The optical cavity has transmission loss at one or both of the end surfaces. The classical, natural cavity mode is defined, and decaying or growing mode functions are derived using the cavity boundary conditions. A series of resonant modes appears. But these modes are not orthogonal to each other and are not suitable for quantum-mechanical analysis of the optical field inside or outside of the cavity. Hypothetical boundaries are added at infinity in order to obtain orthogonal wave mode functions that satisfy the cavity and infinity boundary conditions. These new mode functions are suitable for field quantization, where each mode is quantized separately and the electric field of an optical wave is made up of contributions from each mode. Some results of quantization are described in the next chapter. Chapter 3 deals with the usual quasimode model: a perfect cavity with distributed internal loss or with a fictitious loss reservoir.