Random laser thresholds in cw and pulsed regimes

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2004 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.70.043811· OSTI ID:20646435

Noginov, M A; Fowlkes, I N; Zhu, G; Novak, J ^[1]

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1. Center for Materials Research, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia 23540 (United States)

We analyze the system of rate equations that, according to our previous studies, adequately describes the behavior of neodymium random lasers. We show that random lasers, in which a noticeable fraction of spontaneous emission goes to lasing modes, have different threshold behavior than regular lasers. We also demonstrate that although the dynamics of stimulated emission in random lasers is strongly dissimilar in different pumping regimes, the threshold energy remains constant, equal to the product of the cw threshold power and the spontaneous emission lifetime {tau}, if the pumping pulse is much shorter than {tau}. The results of the study suggest that one can compare the performance of random lasers in different operation regimes and use a cw approximation (with some restrictions) in an analysis of thresholds of pulsed random lasers.

• OSTI ID: 20646435
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 70; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
LIFETIME
NEODYMIUM LASERS
OPERATION
OPTICAL PUMPING
PERFORMANCE
PULSES
RANDOMNESS
STIMULATED EMISSION
THRESHOLD ENERGY