Transverse mode formation in microlasers by combined gain- and index-guiding

The formation of transverse modes in end-pumped microlasers with combined index- and gain-guiding is investigated theoretically, We study the case of a planoconcave cavity pumped by means of a Gaussian optical field in the frame of the effective index method and the mean-field limit. We find crossings of the modal gains as the cavity losses are varied. Ring patterns are observed in both the near- and far-field profiles in qualitative agreement with the experiments. We study the bad-cavity region and observe one compact trapped gain-guided mode with large modal gain, and many other deformed index-guided modes with much less gain.

[1]  J. J. Zayhowski.  Microchip lasers , 1997, CLEO '97., Summaries of Papers Presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics.

[2]  François Sanchez,et al.  Transverse modes in microchip lasers , 1996 .

[3]  F. Arecchi,et al.  Statistical dynamics of class-B lasers , 1988 .

[4]  William H. Press,et al.  Numerical recipes in C. The art of scientific computing , 1987 .

[5]  Robert P. Sarzała,et al.  Transverse modes in gain-guided vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers , 1998 .

[6]  Gian-Luca Oppo,et al.  Instabilities and spatial complexity in a laser , 1990 .

[7]  William H. Press,et al.  Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN - The Art of Scientific Computing, 2nd Edition , 1987 .

[8]  J. J. Zayhowski.  Thermal Guiding in Microchip Lasers , 1991 .

[9]  G. R. Hadley,et al.  Effective index model for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. , 1995, Optics letters.

[10]  Stefano Longhi,et al.  Theory of transverse modes in end-pumped microchip lasers , 1994 .

[11]  J. P. Woerdman,et al.  Resonance Of Quantum Noise In An Unstable-cavity Laser , 1996, QELS '97., Summaries of Papers Presented at the Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference.

[12]  C. Flood,et al.  Preferential operation of an end-pumped Nd:YAG laser in high-order Laguerre-Gauss modes. , 1990, Optics letters.

[13]  William J. Firth,et al.  Transverse modes of microchip solid state lasers , 1992 .

[14]  Kin Seng Chiang.  Effective-index analysis of optical waveguides , 1995, Photonics West.

[15]  L. Lugiato,et al.  Overview of instabilities in laser systems , 1985 .

[16]  G. C. Bowkett,et al.  Single-mode 1.34-microm Nd:YVO(4) microchip laser with cw Ti:sapphire and diode-laser pumping. , 1994, Optics letters.

[17]  J. Zayhowski,et al.  Single-frequency microchip Nd lasers. , 1989, Optics letters.

[18]  Optical detection of ultrasound with a microchip laser. , 1994, Optics letters.

[19]  G Sacchi,et al.  Diode-pumped microchip Er-Yb:glass laser. , 1993, Optics letters.

[20]  Woerdman,et al.  Quantum-limited linewidth of a bad-cavity laser. , 1994, Physical review letters.

[21]  K. Boller,et al.  Intensity noise properties of Nd:YVO4 microchip lasers pumped with an amplitude squeezed diode laser (Optics Comm. 147 (1998) 366) , 1998 .