OBSERVATION OF THE EFFECT OF SPECTRALLY INHOMOGENEOUS GAIN ON THE QUANTUM-LIMITED LASER LINEWIDTH

Authors
KUPPENS SJM VANEXTER MP WOERDMAN JP KOLOBOV MI
Citation
Sjm. Kuppens et al., OBSERVATION OF THE EFFECT OF SPECTRALLY INHOMOGENEOUS GAIN ON THE QUANTUM-LIMITED LASER LINEWIDTH, Optics communications, 126(1-3), 1996, pp. 79-84
Citations number
16
Categorie Soggetti
Optics
Journal title
Optics communications → ACNP
ISSN journal
00304018
Volume
126
Issue
1-3
Year of publication
1996
Pages
79 - 84
Database
ISI
SICI code
0030-4018(1996)126:1-3<79:OOTEOS>2.0.ZU;2-B
Abstract
The effect of spectral inhomogeneity of the gain medium on the Schawlo w-Townes linewidth of a laser is demonstrated. This is done by measuri ng the linewidth of a HeXe 3.51 mu m laser as a function of the ratio of the homogeneous linewidth and the Doppler linewidth. Effects of inh omogeneity are observed when the cavity loss rate becomes of the order of the gain bandwidth. Both theory and experiment indicate that the q uantum-limited laser linewidth is not solely determined by the homogen eous component of the gain bandwidth but by the total gain bandwidth.