Colliding Pulse Mode Locking and Nonequilibrium Carrier Dynamics within Vertical External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

S. A. McLaren, I. Kilen, J. V. Moloney

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The complex nonlinear dynamics of colliding counterpropagating ultrashort laser pulses circulating in a vertical external-cavity surface-emitting ring laser cavity are captured by a first-principles quantum-mechanical microscopic model coupled to an intracavity beam propagator. Our numerical simulations establish that overall mode locking stability is sensitive to relative phases and delays of the pulses impinging on the semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. Delay offsets of the counterpropagating pulses lead to asymmetric carrier recovery and instability, often leading in turn to single unidirectional circulating pulses. Although computationally challenging, we also include transverse effects and show that the influence of interference patterns from spatial gratings written by the counterpropagating pulses is significant in stabilizing the modelocked pulses.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number024006
JournalPhysical Review Applied
Volume18
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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