Abstract

One elegant way to obtain picosecond pulses with high average power is the use of an additive-pulse-modelocked Nd:YAG laser. Sucha et al.¹ reported on period doubling and quasi-periodicity in an APM color center laser, and related systems like synchronously driven nonlinear resonators have been predicted to exhibit period doubling and chaos.² In fact, in a passive fiber ring cavity the occurrence of rich deterministic dynamics has been established.³ This may raise doubt as to whether APM lasers can provide the high stability of the pulse train required for most applications.

© 1996 Optical Society of America