English

Controlling mode locking in optical ring cavities

Optics 2009-11-13 v1 Atomic Physics

Abstract

Imperfections in the surface of intracavity elements of an optical ring resonator can scatter light from one mode into the counterpropagating mode. The phase-locking of the cavity modes induced by this backscattering is a well-known example that notoriously afflicts laser gyroscopes and similar active systems. We experimentally show how backscattering can be circumvented in a unidirectionally operated ring cavity either by an appropriate choice of the resonant cavity mode or by active feedback control.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0611187,
  title  = {Controlling mode locking in optical ring cavities},
  author = {G. Krenz and S. Bux and S. Slama and C. Zimmermann and Ph. W. Courteille},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0611187},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

5 pages, 5 figures