Eckhaus Instability in Laser Cavities with Harmonically Swept Filters

Feng Li; Dongmei  Huang; K. Nakkeeran; J. Nathan  Kutz; Jinhui  Yuan; P. K. A. Wai

doi:10.1109/JLT.2021.3104186

Eckhaus Instability in Laser Cavities with Harmonically Swept Filters

Feng Li, Dongmei Huang, K. Nakkeeran , J. Nathan Kutz, Jinhui Yuan, P. K. A. Wai

Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we report the existence of Eckhaus instability in laser cavities with harmonically swept filters, of which Fourier Domain Mode Locked (FDML) laser is an important example. We show that such laser cavities can be modeled by a real Ginzburg Landau equation with a frequency shifting term arisen from the cavity dispersion. We analytically derived a solution of the governing equation and analyzed its stability. We found that the cavity dispersion introduces a continuous frequency shift to the laser signal such that it will be eventually pushed outside the stable region and trigger the Eckhaus instability. We show that the repeated triggering of the Eckhaus instability in the laser cavities is the dominant effect that leads to the high frequency fluctuations in FDML laser output, which is the unique feature of such laser cavities and intrinsically limits the signal quality of the FDML lasers with nonzero cavity dispersion.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	6531 - 6538
Number of pages	8
Journal	IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology
Volume	39
Issue number	20
Early online date	11 Aug 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2021.3104186
Publication status	Published - 15 Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

This work was supported in part by National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFB1803904), in part by Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (SGDX2019081623060558), in part by Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of Hong Kong SAR (PolyU152241/18E), and in part by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515012544) (Corresponding author: Dongmei Huang).

Keywords

Eckhaus instability
Real Ginzburg Landau equation
Swept laser
Fourier domain mode locking

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Cite this

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title = "Eckhaus Instability in Laser Cavities with Harmonically Swept Filters",

abstract = "In this paper, we report the existence of Eckhaus instability in laser cavities with harmonically swept filters, of which Fourier Domain Mode Locked (FDML) laser is an important example. We show that such laser cavities can be modeled by a real Ginzburg Landau equation with a frequency shifting term arisen from the cavity dispersion. We analytically derived a solution of the governing equation and analyzed its stability. We found that the cavity dispersion introduces a continuous frequency shift to the laser signal such that it will be eventually pushed outside the stable region and trigger the Eckhaus instability. We show that the repeated triggering of the Eckhaus instability in the laser cavities is the dominant effect that leads to the high frequency fluctuations in FDML laser output, which is the unique feature of such laser cavities and intrinsically limits the signal quality of the FDML lasers with nonzero cavity dispersion.",

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author = "Feng Li and Dongmei Huang and K. Nakkeeran and Kutz, {J. Nathan} and Jinhui Yuan and Wai, {P. K. A.}",

note = "This work was supported in part by National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFB1803904), in part by Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (SGDX2019081623060558), in part by Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of Hong Kong SAR (PolyU152241/18E), and in part by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515012544) (Corresponding author: Dongmei Huang). ",

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T1 - Eckhaus Instability in Laser Cavities with Harmonically Swept Filters

AU - Li, Feng

AU - Huang, Dongmei

AU - Nakkeeran , K.

AU - Kutz, J. Nathan

AU - Yuan, Jinhui

AU - Wai, P. K. A.

N1 - This work was supported in part by National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFB1803904), in part by Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (SGDX2019081623060558), in part by Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of Hong Kong SAR (PolyU152241/18E), and in part by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515012544) (Corresponding author: Dongmei Huang).

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N2 - In this paper, we report the existence of Eckhaus instability in laser cavities with harmonically swept filters, of which Fourier Domain Mode Locked (FDML) laser is an important example. We show that such laser cavities can be modeled by a real Ginzburg Landau equation with a frequency shifting term arisen from the cavity dispersion. We analytically derived a solution of the governing equation and analyzed its stability. We found that the cavity dispersion introduces a continuous frequency shift to the laser signal such that it will be eventually pushed outside the stable region and trigger the Eckhaus instability. We show that the repeated triggering of the Eckhaus instability in the laser cavities is the dominant effect that leads to the high frequency fluctuations in FDML laser output, which is the unique feature of such laser cavities and intrinsically limits the signal quality of the FDML lasers with nonzero cavity dispersion.

AB - In this paper, we report the existence of Eckhaus instability in laser cavities with harmonically swept filters, of which Fourier Domain Mode Locked (FDML) laser is an important example. We show that such laser cavities can be modeled by a real Ginzburg Landau equation with a frequency shifting term arisen from the cavity dispersion. We analytically derived a solution of the governing equation and analyzed its stability. We found that the cavity dispersion introduces a continuous frequency shift to the laser signal such that it will be eventually pushed outside the stable region and trigger the Eckhaus instability. We show that the repeated triggering of the Eckhaus instability in the laser cavities is the dominant effect that leads to the high frequency fluctuations in FDML laser output, which is the unique feature of such laser cavities and intrinsically limits the signal quality of the FDML lasers with nonzero cavity dispersion.

KW - Eckhaus instability

KW - Real Ginzburg Landau equation

KW - Swept laser

KW - Fourier domain mode locking

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DO - 10.1109/JLT.2021.3104186

M3 - Article

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EP - 6538

JO - IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology

JF - IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology

IS - 20

ER -

Eckhaus Instability in Laser Cavities with Harmonically Swept Filters

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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