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International Meeting on Instabilities and Dynamics of Lasers and Nonlinear Optical Systems

Transient Bistability in a Laser Containing a Saturable Absorber

E. Arimondo, C. Gabbanini, E. Menchi, Didier Dangoisse, P. Glorieux

Published Jan 1, 1985• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The question of the behaviour of the LSA when a control parameter is a slowly varying function of time, has recently been raised [1]. The investigation of the transient behaviour of a LSA is interesting not only in connection with the problem of the response time of optically bistable systems but also because in any real experiment, if one wants to explore a phase diagram, the parameters have to be changed in time. Although the relaxation times of the molecular medium and the cavity response time are of the order of 100μs or smaller, the time constants characterising the transient regime of the LSA may be much longer because of the critical slowing down which appears near the limit points of the hysteresis cycle[2]

DOI
10.1364/idlnos.1985.tud3

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The question of the behaviour of the LSA when a control parameter is a slowly varying function of time, has recently been raised [1]. The investigation of the transient behaviour of a LSA is interesting not only in connection with the problem of the response time of optically bistable systems but also because in any real experiment, if one wants to explore a phase diagram, the parameters have to be changed in time. Although the relaxation times of the molecular medium and the cavity response time are of the order of 100μs or smaller, the time constants characterising the transient regime of the LSA may be much longer because of the critical slowing down which appears near the limit points of the hysteresis cycle[2]
A simple mathematical model to describe the action of a saturable absorber in a laser cavity (LSA) was developed. The approach considered here takes in a phenomenological way into account the essential physical processes which makes it possible to determine the principal parameters in a LSA and their influences on the optical bistability. We will study theoretically optical bistability in a trimodale laser containing a saturable absorber in the case that the active medium and absorber show a homogeneous broadening. We determine the densities of photons as function of the pumping of the active medium and analyze the linear stability of the solutions obtained.
Optical bistability in a CO2 infrared laser containing SF6 as a saturable intracavity absorber has been studied under dynamic conditions as a function of a time-dependent laser control parameter. The width of the optical bistability region, the fluctuations in the bistability switching values, and the dependence on the initial conditions have been investigated in this transient optical bistability. A numerical solution of the laser rate equations provides a good interpretation of the experimental results, but some experimental observations cannot be completely explained.
In a laser with a saturable absorber (LSA), two spatially separated cells are placed in the laser cavity as shown in Figure 8.1. The roles of the two cells are quite different: one of them is pumped so that the atoms have a positive population inversion (active or amplifying medium); the other one is left with a negative population inversion (passive or absorbing medium). As these two media are in general different, they saturate at different power levels. The most interesting case corresponds to the situation where the absorber saturates more easily than the active medium, introducing nonlinear losses inside the cavity. This new nonlinearity is responsible for two phenomena. An LSA may exhibit optical bistability, i.e. two distinct stable steady states may coexist for a range of values of a parameter. It may also produce pulsating intensity oscillations which have been called “passive Q-switching” (PQS) in contrast to “active Q-switching” experiments such as the “gain switching” experiments discussed in Section 1.3.2. The interest in LSAs varied very much over time, with peaks in the late 1960s for their large intensity pulses, in the mid 1980s for their chaotic outputs, and in the late 1990s for the design of compact microlasers. Historically, physicists trying to explain the irregular intensity pulses delivered by the ruby laser suspected the possible destabilizing role of a saturable absorber. Shimoda proposed that the nonlinear losses generated by a saturable absorber could explain this phenomenon.
In this paper, we develop a theoretical model that accurately describes the nonlinear phenomenon of optical bistability in Fabry-Perot laser containing a saturable absorber "LSA". We present an analytical model for optical bistability in a LSA. The physics of optical bistability in a classical optical resonant system such as Fabry-Perot etalon has been well-established, and can be described by simple analytical models. The photon intensities were determined as a function of the pumping rate of the active medium, and we analyzed the linear stability of the stationary solutions obtained.