Selective excitation of lasing modes by controlling modal interactions

Area of Science:

• Nonlinear optics
• Photonics
• Laser physics

Background:

• Selective excitation of specific lasing modes is challenging, especially when modes overlap spectrally and spatially.
• Dominant modes with lower thresholds often overshadow weaker modes of interest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple and systematic method for selective excitation of dwarfed lasing modes.
• To enable control over modal interactions for targeted laser mode activation.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the relationship between nonlinear and linear dielectric constants.
• Incorporating control of modal interactions into the spatial pump profile.
• Applying the method to systems with overlapping spatial and spectral modes.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a method for selective excitation of lasing modes.
• Successfully achieved excitation of modes that would typically be dwarfed by dominant ones.
• The method proved effective in overcoming challenges posed by overlapping modes.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a straightforward approach to selectively excite lasing modes.
• Controlling modal interactions via the spatial pump profile is key to achieving selective excitation.
• This technique is particularly valuable for complex systems with overlapping modes.