Pulse shaping mechanism in mode-locked lasers

Abstract

A pulse shaping mechanism applied to mode-locked lasers is proposed. By adding a linear (forcing) term in the power energy saturation model, we are able to control the resulting pulses in both energy and shape. In fact, this term also provides a focusing effect keeping most of the pulse's energy confined within the width of the forcing. The appropriate condition for which mode-locking occurs is also derived and links the physical parameters of the system (gain, loss, filtering) to those of the pulse (amplitude, width, energy). Thus, given the desired pulse one only needs to fix the laser's parameters accordingly, so as to obey this condition, and mode-locking will occur.