Abstract

A technique is presented for generating essentially exact self-consistent solutions in actively mode-locked laser systems where gain modulation is substantial. The profiles are considerably narrower than those occurring when gain modulation is insignificant, in line with the experimental results of Scavennec.¹ Numerical solutions tracing the signal evolution over hundreds of cavity transits show that spontaneous emission (simulated by a weak stochastic source term as in Ref. 2) is a major source of jitter, causing large fluctuations in height, width, and overall shape of the pulses as well as in their timing within the modulation cycle. The results have widespread implications in the field of ultrashort pulse generation.

© 1984 Optical Society of America