Theory of mode-locked lasers containing a reverse saturable absorber
Abstract
An analytic solution is presented for mode-locking a laser using a saturable absorber and reverse saturable absorber with long relaxation times compared to the temporal pulse widths. A reverse saturable absorber is a material with an excited-state absorption cross section larger than the ground-state absorption cross section, where increasing the incident light intensity increases the absorption. The reverse saturable absorber plays an important role in mode-locking laser materials where individual pulses cannot saturate the gain. A numerical example of mode-locking a CW alexandrite laser with a reverse saturable absorber and a saturable absorber is presented.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
- Pub Date:
- August 1985
- DOI:
- 10.1109/JQE.1985.1072798
- Bibcode:
- 1985IJQE...21.1219H
- Keywords:
-
- Absorbers (Materials);
- Absorption Cross Sections;
- Continuous Radiation;
- Laser Mode Locking;
- Solid State Lasers;
- Differential Equations;
- Integral Equations;
- Neodymium Lasers;
- Photoabsorption;
- Saturation;
- Yag Lasers;
- Lasers and Masers