Nonlinear modal interactions in parity-time (${\cal PT}$) symmetric lasers

TL;DR

This paper investigates nonlinear modal interactions in $ ext{PT}$-symmetric lasers, revealing how gain clamping and phase space dynamics influence single-mode operation and robustness against saturation nonlinearities.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of different gain clamping scenarios and phase space behaviors in $ ext{PT}$-symmetric lasers using coupled mode analysis and SALT.

Findings

System can be frozen in $ ext{PT}$ phase space with increasing gain.

System can be pulled towards its exceptional point.

Single-mode operation remains robust against saturation nonlinearities.

Abstract

Parity-time ($\cal PT$) symmetric lasers have attracted considerable attention lately due to their promising applications and intriguing properties, such as free spectral range doubling and single-mode lasing. In this work we discuss nonlinear modal interactions in these laser systems under steady state conditions, and we demonstrate that several gain clamping scenarios can occur for lasing operation in the $\cal PT$-symmetric and $\cal PT$-broken phases. In particular, we show that, depending on the system's design and the external pump profile, its operation in the nonlinear regime falls into two different categories: in one the system is frozen in the $\cal PT$ phase space as the applied gain increases, while in the other the system is pulled towards its exceptional point. These features are first illustrated by a coupled mode formalism and later verified by employing the Steady-state Ab-initio Laser Theory (SALT). Our findings shine light on the robustness of single-mode operation in these lasers against saturation nonlinearity in $\cal PT$-symmetric lasers.