Impact of amplitude-phase coupling on opticalfeedback induced timing jitter reduction in passively mode-locked lasers

Abstract

Optical feedback can be used to reduce the timing jitter of passively mode-locked lasers. Using a delay differential equation model, we investigate the effect of optical feedback on a passively mode-locked laser. We find that longer feedback delay times lead to more effective jitter reduction. However, with nonzero amplitude-phase coupling in the laser sections, long delay feedback can give rise to destabilized pulse streams. Keywords—mode-locking; feedback; amplitude-phase coupling; timing jitter