Phase Transition Theory of Many-Mode Ordering and Pulse Formation in Lasers
- 14 August 2002
- journal article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 89 (10), 103901
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.89.103901
Abstract
A novel theory for the ordering of many interacting modes in lasers is presented. By exactly solving a Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution of waveforms in the laser in steady state, equivalence of the system to a canonical ensemble is established, where the role of temperature is taken by amplifier noise. Passive mode locking is obtained as a phase transition of the first kind and threshold is calculated, employing mean field theory backed up by a numerical study. For zero noise, compliance with the existing noiseless theory is shown.This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Self-starting of passively mode-locked lasers with fast saturable absorbersOptics Letters, 1995
- Stability of passively mode-locked fiber lasers with fast saturable absorptionOptics Letters, 1994
- Self-starting of passively mode-locked lasersOptics Letters, 1991
- Experimental study of additive-pulse mode locking in an Nd:glass laserIEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 1991
- Self-starting passive mode lockingOptics Letters, 1991
- Self-starting condition for additive-pulse mode-locked lasersOptics Letters, 1990
- Photon distributions of lasers with first-order phase-transition analogiesPhysical Review A, 1979
- Exact statistical properties of a model for interacting waves in non-thermal equilibriumJournal of Physics A: Mathematical, Nuclear and General, 1974
- Exactly soluble modelsPhysica, 1974
- Analogy between the Laser Threshold Region and a Second-Order Phase TransitionPhysical Review A, 1970