M. Munroe et al., TOTAL INTENSITY MODULATION AND MODE HOPPING IN A COUPLED-CAVITY LASERAS A RESULT OF EXTERNAL-CAVITY LENGTH VARIATIONS, Optics letters, 19(2), 1994, pp. 105-107
Subwavelength variation in the length of an external cavity strongly c
oupled to a very short (100 mu m) dye laser results in large changes i
n the total intensity and frequency hopping of the lasing modes. These
measurements are in agreement with a multimode theory of coupled-cavi
ty laser dynamics. The modulation in the total intensity is due to the
frequency-dependent gain associated with the coupled-cavity mode stru
cture, while the mode hopping characteristics can be attributed to fre
quency-dependent losses caused by very weak (similar to 10(-3)) reflec
tions or diffuse scattering from the glass surfaces in the system.