Investigation of the establishment of forced mode locking in a CW solid-state laser

The paper presents first results of an experimental study of the establishment of the forced locking of axial modes in a CW Nd(3+):YAG laser. Forced mode locking was achieved by the use of the LiNbO3 electrooptic modulators. Results show that the process of establishing the mode locking is very prolonged, and that its duration depends on the method of modulation (i.e., amplitude or phase). The time of establishment of mode locking in the case of phase modulation was about 2.6 ms; in the case of amplitude modulation it was about 1.2 ms.