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The dynamics of multimode, standing-wave c-w dye lasers

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:7029983
Experimental investigations of multimode, standing-wave, c-w dye lasers were carried out. The optical spectrum of a three-mirror-cavity dye laser was found to evolve by discrete transitions with increasing pump power, between spectra composed of three stable modes and spectra composed of many modes whose amplitudes fluctuate strongly. The intensities versus time of individual modes of the multimode laser were measured. For pump powers where the spectrum consisted of modes with strongly fluctuating amplitudes, it was found that the intensities of individual modes have a correlation time that decreases with increasing pump power. In addition, the fluctuations were found to be deterministic, possibly deterministically chaotic. This rules out quantum noise as the origin of the fluctuations, a mechanism that had been assumed in many previous studies. The results of the experiments are compared with numerical simulations of this laser. The modeling indicates that four-wave mixing and spatial hole burning are responsible for the discrete transitions in the optical spectrum, and that four-wave mixing drives the strong fluctuations of individual mode intensities.
Research Organization:
Rochester Univ., NY (USA)
OSTI ID:
7029983
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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