Enhancement of Laser Power Efficiency by Control of Spatial Hole Burning Interactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how controlling spatial hole burning interactions through tailored pump profiles can significantly enhance laser power efficiency, addressing a poorly understood aspect of nonlinear wave interactions in laser systems.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control spatial hole burning interactions via tailored pump profiles to improve laser power efficiency.

Findings

Spatial hole burning interactions generally reduce power efficiency.

Tailored pump profiles can control these interactions.

Efficiency improvements can be achieved by orders of magnitude.

Abstract

The laser is an out-of-equilibrium nonlinear wave system where the interplay of the cavity geometry and nonlinear wave interactions, mediated by the gain medium, determines the self-organized oscillation frequencies and the associated spatial field patterns. In the steady state, a constant energy flux flows through the laser from the pump to the far field, with the ratio of the total output power to the input power determining the power-efficiency. While nonlinear wave interactions have been modeled and well understood since the early days of laser theory, their impact on the power-efficiency of a laser system is poorly understood. Here, we show that spatial hole burning interactions generally decrease the power efficiency. We then demonstrate how spatial hole burning interactions can be controlled by a spatially tailored pump profile, thereby boosting the power-efficiency, in some cases by orders of magnitude.