Physical Review A
Single-cycle-pulse passively-mode-locked laser with inhomogeneously broadened active medium
Victor V. Kozlov, Nikolay N. Rosanov
Abstract
Generation of single-cycle pulses from a laser passively mode locked by the technique of coherent mode locking is theoretically demonstrated for the case when resonant lines of both the gain and absorbing media are inhomogeneously broadened. In contrast to conventional mode-locked lasers, for which the inhomogeneous nature of line broadening sets a severe limitation on their performance, here, the stable single-cycle pulse operation is shown to persist even when the spectral widths of the inhomogeneously broadened lines of the amplifier and the absorber become nearly as wide as the central resonance frequency of their two-level transitions. This study is aimed at showing the potential for application of the coherent-mode-locking technique for quantum-dot lasers, which are typically characterized by a great amount of inhomogeneous broadening.