Ab initio self-consistent laser theory and random lasers

Abstract

We review our recent work leading to steady-state solutions of the semiclassical (Maxwell-Bloch) equations of a laser. These are coupled non-linear partial differential equations in space and time which have previously been solved either by fully time-dependent numerical simulations or by using major approximations which neglect non-linear modal interactions and/or the openness of the laser system. We have found a time-independent technique for determining these stationary solutions which can treat lasers of arbitrary complexity and degree of openness. Our method has been shown to agree with time-dependent numerical solutions to high accuracy and has been applied to find the electric field patterns (lasing modes) of random lasers, which lack a laser cavity and are so strongly damped that the linear system has no detectable resonances. Our work provides a link between an important non-linear wave system and the field of quantum/wave chaos in linear systems.

22 pages, 10 figures, final version, selected for the cover illustration of the journal Nonlinearity in 2009

References in corpus (7)

• Supporting Online Material for "Strong Interactions in Multimode Random Lasers"
• Strong Interactions in Multimode Random Lasers
• Self-consistent multi-mode lasing theory for complex or random lasing media
• Spatial Extent of Random Laser Modes
• Intrinsic fluctuations in random lasers
• Quantitative Verification of Ab Initio Self-consistent Laser Theory
• Effects of spatial non-uniformity on laser dynamics

Cited by in corpus (29)

• Pump-induced Exceptional Points in Lasers
• Steady-state Ab Initio Laser Theory: Generalizations and Analytic Results
• Pump-Controlled Directional Light Emission from Random Lasers
• Recent developments in the theory of multimode random lasers
• The Single-Channel Regime of Transport through Random Media
• Unidirectional Lasing Emerging from Frozen Light in Non-Reciprocal Cavities
• Scalable numerical approach for the steady-state ab initio laser theory
• The Complex Spherical 2+4 Spin Glass: a Model for Nonlinear Optics in Random Media
• Spatial dynamics, thermalization, and gain clamping in a photon condensate
• Ab-initio multimode linewidth theory for arbitrary inhomogeneous laser cavities
• First-Principles Threshold Calculation of Photonic Crystal Surface-Emitting Lasers Using Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis
• Euclidean matrix theory of random lasing in a cloud of cold atoms
• Nonlinear effects in random lasers
• Steady-state ab-initio laser theory for lasers with fully or nearly degenerate resonator modes
• Tuning random lasing in photonic glasses
• Fluctuations and Correlations of Emission from Random Lasers
• Non-Hermitian coupled-mode theory for incoherently pumped exciton-polariton condensates
• Glassiness and Lack of Equipartition in Random Lasers: the common roots of Ergodicity Breaking in Disordered and Non-linear Systems
• Lorenz-Mie theory for 2D scattering and resonance calculations
• Nonstationary Regime of Random Lasers
• Diagrammatic semiclassical laser theory
• A Random Laser as a Dynamical Network
• Quantum theory of a two-mode open-cavity laser
• Universal single-mode lasing in fully chaotic two-dimensional microcavity lasers under continuous-wave operation with large pumping power
• Symmetry, stability, and computation of degenerate lasing modes
• Non-Hermitian gauged laser arrays with localized excitations: Anomalous threshold and generalized principle of selective pumping
• Inherent Stochastic Linearization of Random Laser Modes
• Resonant states of structured photonic time crystals
• Efficient computation of coherent multimode instabilities in lasers using a spectral approach