IMPROVEMENT OF COUPLED-CAVITY MODE-LOCKING OF CONTINUOUS-WAVE SOLID-STATE LASERS BY A RESONANT NONLINEARITY

An increase in the efficiency of mode locking achieved with a saturabl e absorber in the master on an additional cavity is demonstrated on th e basis of the fluctuation model of coupled-cavity mode-locked cw soli d-state lasers. The increase consists in the broadening of the laser p arameter range for which the mode locking occurs, the essential decrea sing of the threshold pump intensity, and the reduction of the regime' s sensitivity to phase mismatches of the cavity lengths. The generatio n of stable pulse trains with a double repetition frequency and couple d-cavity mode locking in the case of the phase mismatch of the cavity lengths and the absence of self-phase modulation in the master cavity are shown to be possible in the system with the absorber in the additi onal cavity.