INTRACAVITY SHAPING OF MODE-LOCKED LASER-PULSES

A novel laser synthesizer of optical pulses is proposed. It is based o n injection locking of numerous weakly coupled laser oscillators with a common resonator. A proper shaping of the susceptibility through sha ping the pump beam reduces the dispersion of all orders due to the res onance transition and leads to generation of pulses close to the inver se bandwidth of the gain medium. A simple intracavity shaping mechanis m allows synthesis of higher-order time supermodes directly from the l aser. This technique could be applied to both active and passive mode- locked lasers with homogeneously and inhomogeneously broadened transit ions. The possibility of using a compound gain medium is also discusse d.