Mode locking using stimulated Raman scattering

Recent experiments have shown that the simple addition of a length of Raman-shifting fibre in the cavity of a cw-pumped fibre laser can cause the laser to generate a stable train of pulses [Zhao and Jackson, Opt. Lett., 31 751 (2006)]. We show using a numerical model that this behavior is a new type of mode locking, driven by backward stimulated Raman scattering. This mode locking mechanism could also be applied to crystalline Raman laser systems to create a novel picosecond oscillator.6 page(s