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arXiv · 1505.01884

Quantitative test of general theories of the intrinsic laser linewidth

Alexander Cerjan·Adi Pick·Yidong Chong·Steven G. Johnson·A. Douglas Stone
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Abstract

We perform a first-principles calculation of the quantum-limited laser linewidth, testing the predictions of recently developed theories of the laser linewidth based on fluctuations about the known steady-state laser solutions against traditional forms of the Schawlow-Townes linewidth. The numerical study is based on finite-difference time-domain simulations of the semiclassical Maxwell-Bloch lasing equations, augmented with Langevin force terms, and thus includes the effects of dispersion, losses due to the open boundary of the laser cavity, and non-linear coupling between the amplitude and phase fluctuations ($\alpha$ factor). We find quantitative agreement between the numerical results and the predictions of the noisy steady-state ab initio laser theory (N-SALT), both in the variation of the linewidth with output power, as well as the emergence of side-peaks due to relaxation oscillations.

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Alexander Cerjan, Adi Pick, Yidong Chong, Steven G. Johnson, A. Douglas Stone. 2015-05-07. Quantitative test of general theories of the intrinsic laser linewidth. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.23.028316

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