Abstract

We present quantitative estimates of the peak pulse height fluctuation in a model of synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser operation. The effect of the mismatch between pump and dye laser cavity round-trip times, the strength of the pumping pulse, the level of spontaneous emission, and the cavity loss per transit on the mode-locked dye laser pulses are studied by computer simulations of a model introduced by G.H.C. New and his co-workers. It is shown that a decrease in the level of spontaneous emission leads to a decrease in the normalized variance of the peak pulse height, while the pump pulse strength has little influence on the normalized variance. The role of the cavity loss per transit, pump pulse strength, and spontaneous emission on the correlation time of the peak pulse heights is clearly displayed. The role of the cavity loss per transit on the formation or suppression of satellite pulses is investigated. A model for mode locking by synchronous pumping of a titanium-doped sapphire laser with a relaxation time much longer than the cavity round-trip time is also presented. The model explicitly accounts for the long relaxation time of the active medium as well as the length of the cavity. The effect of the mismatch time between pump and solid-state laser cavity on the mode-locked pulses is shown.

© 1988 Optical Society of America