Abstract

The soliton-like character of the pulses generated by colliding pulses modelocked (CPM) dye lasers has been widely evidenced in the recent years. The non linear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) which governs solitons behaviors seems to also explain fairly well most of the CPM laser behaviors even if the laser is a non linear media much more complicated than that assumed in the NLSE. We have tried to used the NLSE predictions in order to obtain some fundamental parameters of CPM lasers. Since the soliton properties arise from the balancing between group velocity dispersion (GVD) and self phase modulation (SPM), the soliton-like pulses behaviors depend widely on the laser GVD. Inversely measuring the pulse parameters can lead to an estimation of the cavity dispersion.

© 1990 Optical Society of America