Timing jitter and pump-induced amplitude modulation in the colliding-pulse mode-locked (CPM) laser

Author

Harvey, George T. ; Heutmaker, Michael S. ; Smith, Peter R. ; Nuss, Martin C. ; Keller, Ursula ; Valdmanis, Janis A.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Labs., Princeton, NJ, USA

Volume

27

Issue

2

fYear

1991

fDate

2/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

295

Lastpage

301

Abstract

The timing jitter and spurious amplitude modulation of colliding-pulse mode-locked (CPM) lasers were measured. The absolute jitter (the jitter of the laser alone) varied between 5 and 10 ps RMS in a 50-500-Hz bandwidth. The smallest measured relative jitter (timing fluctuations between the CPM and a radio-frequency (RF) synthesizer synchronized to the CPM) was 1.8 ps RMS in a 2-Hz to 1-kHz bandwidth. Separate from the jitter, spurious modulation in the CW pump laser mixes with the CPM pulse train to produce a set of discrete amplitude-modulated sidebands in the power spectrum of the CPM output. The frequencies of these sidebands change with cavity length, and the sidebands can be eliminated by operating the pump laser in a single longitudinal mode

Keywords

high-speed optical techniques; laser mode locking; optical pumping; absolute jitter; bandwidth; cavity length; colliding pulse mode-locked laser; continuous wave pump laser; discrete amplitude-modulated sidebands; power spectrum; pump laser; pump-induced amplitude modulation; radiofrequency synthesizer; single longitudinal mode; spurious amplitude modulation; timing fluctuations; timing jitter; Amplitude modulation; Bandwidth; Fluctuations; Laser excitation; Laser mode locking; Laser modes; Pulse modulation; Pump lasers; Radio frequency; Timing jitter;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.78234

Filename

78234