Progress in Passively Mode-Locked Laser Technology with Ring Cavities at Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech

A team at the Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a theoretical model for PML-SRLs, revealing that operating states are governed by the temporal balance of gain and loss. The model combines time-domain traveling-wave equations with partial differential equations for carrier density, examining the relationship among SOA carrier accumulation rate, SA carrier lifetime and ring-cavity round-trip time. The work, published in Optics Express, also found that an SOA with a narrow gain spectrum and a short resonator configuration can merge output pulses to yield high-energy optical pulses.