Abstract
It is demonstrated that with rigorous inclusion of diffraction on an intracavity hard aperture the values of the nonlinear differential loss coefficient Γ (which characterizes the efficiency of Kerr-lens mode locking) are several times higher than in the commonly used simplified approach in which diffraction effects are neglected. Diffraction changes modal properties and causes a faster decrease of mode losses with increasing power than predicted by the traditional approach. With this correction, the discrepancy between the Kerr-lens mode-locking theory and the theoretical estimates of the self-starting condition is substantially decreased.
© 1995 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
T. Brabec, P. F. Curley, Ch. Spielmann, E. Wintner, and A. J. Schmidt
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 10(6) 1029-1034 (1993)
S. Gatz and J. Herrmann
Opt. Lett. 20(8) 825-827 (1995)
V. P. Yanovsky, F. W. Wise, A. Cassanho, and H. P. Jenssen
Opt. Lett. 20(11) 1304-1306 (1995)