This article is cited in 11 papers

Brief Communications

Autostochastic operation of a solid-state ring laser with low-frequency periodic loss modulation

P. A. Khandokhin, Ya. I. Khanin


Abstract: An experimental investigation was made of a single-frequency solid-state (YAG:Nd³⁺) travelingwave ring laser subjected to sinusoidal loss modulation. At a fixed modulation frequency an increase in the depth of modulation first resulted in nonlinear distortions of the laser response and then caused an abrupt change to pulsed operation at a repetition frequency equal to the loss modulation frequency. A further increase of the modulation depth resulted in complicated lasing, bifurcated increase in the period, and eventually emission characterized by a random variation of the amplitude and of the interval between the pulses. At the maximum experimentally attainable depths of modulation this random or autostochastic lasing changed to regular pulsing at a repetition frequency equal to half the loss modulation frequency. The dependence of the laser response on the depth of modulation exhibited a hysteresis. All the experimental results, including the autostochastic lasing regime, were in good agreement with the results obtained by numerical solution of the equations describing a solid-state ring laser.

UDC: 621.373.8

PACS: 42.55.Rz, 42.60.By, 42.60.Fc, 42.60.Rn

Received: 13.10.1983

 English version: Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics, 1984, 14:7, 1004–1007

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