Cavity decay rate and relaxation oscillation frequency in unconventional laser cavities
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Measuring the relaxation oscillation frequency {omega}{sub r} versus the normalized pumping rate r can provide a useful technique for determining either cavity or atomic parameter in many different kinds of lasers. Measurements of relaxation frequency versus pumping rate in a Nd: YAG laser using a gain-guided unstable-cavity design were recently found, however, to yield values of cavity decay rate which were unreasonably large compared to other estimates of the cavity losses. This difficulty has been resolved by a closer look at the relaxation oscillation dynamics in this type of laser. The authors find that in nonorthogonal laser cavities with nonuniform gain distributions the energy decay rate of the cavity oscillation mode usually employed in the relaxation frequency formula must be replaced by a different decay rate relevant to oscillation mode perturbations. A numerical simulation including this more general effect gives values very close to their experimental results, confirming the validity of this modified analysis.
- OSTI ID:
- 32018
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 31, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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