Model of the self-Q-switching instability of passively phased fiber laser arrays

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2011 · IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/JQE.2011.2112637· OSTI ID:1038066

Bochove, Erik J. ^[1]; Aceves, Alejandro B. ^[2]; Braiman, Yehuda ^[3]; Colet, Pere R. ^[4]; Deiterding, Ralf ^[3]; Jacobo, Adrian ^[4]; Miller, Casey A ^[3]; Rhodes, Charles ^[5]; Shakir, Sami A. ^[6]

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1. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM
2. Southern Methodist University, Dallas
3. ORNL
4. University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
5. Liberations Systems Management, Inc.
6. TASC, Inc.

A simple physical model is presented to explain observed self-pulsations in passively phased rare earth-doped fiber laser arrays. Their essential features are the feedback level s sensitivity to small perturbations in the phases of array fields, hence altering the cavity s Q-value, and the nonlinear changes in the refractive index of the amplifier gain media. The model s qualitative prediction for an array having at least two elements that is operated at sufficiently high power levels, of the growth of an initial disturbance, is confirmed by a linearized stability analysis of the field and medium equations.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Work for Others (WFO)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1038066
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 47, Issue 6; ISSN 0018-9197
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
AMPLIFIERS
FEEDBACK
FIBERS
FORECASTING
INSTABILITY
LASERS
REFRACTIVE INDEX
SENSITIVITY
STABILITY
fiber lasers
passively phased laser arrays
spatial filtering