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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
Formation and annihilation of laser light pulse quanta in a thermodynamic-like pathway
Boris Vodonos1, Rafi Weill, Ariel Gordon
1Department of Electrical Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel.
Abstract:
We present a theoretical and experimental study of multiple pulse formation in passively mode-locked lasers. Following a statistical-mechanics approach, the study yields a thermodynamic-like "phase diagram" with boundaries representing cascaded first order phase transitions. They correspond to abrupt creation or annihilation of pulses and a quantized rf power behavior, as system parameters (noise and/or pumping levels) are varied, in excellent accordance with the experiments. Remarkably, individual pulses carry an almost constant quantum of energy.
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