Efficiently Modeling the Noise Performance of Short-Pulse Lasers with a Computational Implementation of Dynamical Methods

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fast computational method for modeling the noise performance of short-pulse lasers, significantly improving speed over traditional Monte Carlo simulations and aiding in laser noise reduction.

Contribution

It presents a novel computational implementation of dynamical methods that enables rapid and accurate noise performance assessment of passively modelocked lasers.

Findings

Achieves noise performance analysis within minutes on a desktop computer.

Provides a speed-up factor of about 1000 compared to Monte Carlo simulations.

Successfully characterizes lasers with different saturable absorber mechanisms.

Abstract

Lowering the noise level of short pulse lasers has been a long-standing effort for decades. Modeling the noise performance plays a crucial role in isolating the noise sources and reducing them. Modeling to date has either used analytical or semi-analytical implementation of dynamical methods or Monte Carlo simulations. The former approach is too simplified to accurately assess the noise performance in real laser systems, while the latter approach is too computationally slow to optimize the performance as parameters vary over a wide range. Here, we describe a computational implementation of dynamical methods that allows us to determine the noise performance of a passively modelocked laser within minutes on a desktop computer and is faster than Monte Carlo methods by a factor on the order of 1000. We apply this method to characterize a laser that is locked using a fast saturable absorber---for example, a fiber-based nonlinear polarization rotation---and a laser that is locked using a slow saturable absorber---for example, a semiconductor saturable absorbing mirror.