{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29237"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29237","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Noise and stability of actively modelocked fiber lasers","abstract":"The timing jitter of a modelocked laser is fundamentally limited by the amplified spontaneous emission in the laser cavity. While one cannot, even in principle, remove this source of noise, one does have control over the pulse timing by using filtering and modulation. In this thesis, we report on the advances made in developing the understanding of timing jitter and stability in actively modelocked soliton fiber lasers. The main achievements reported here are: the development of a theory for quantum-limited timing jitter for the cases of amplitude and phase modulation (AM and PM, respectively); identification of a set of characteristic coefficients governing the physics of pulse retiming that depend on the laser parameters; construction of an apparatus-including the development of harmonically modelocked soliton fiber lasers in both a ring and a sigma configuration-to measure the predicted coefficients; and residual phase-noise measurements of the quantum-limited timing jitter using homodyne detection. The measurements of the characteristic coefficients and the timing jitter were found to be in good agreement with the theory. In addition, a theory for the case of harmonic modelocking was developed, and it is shown that the supermodes reveal pulse-to-pulse correlation statistics and must be included in measurements and calculations of the timing jitter. For the case of uncorrelated timing jitter between different pulses in the laser cavity, the supermodes are predicted to have the same timing jitter spectrum as the baseband mode, and this is confirmed by measurements.","abstract_html":"The timing jitter of a modelocked laser is fundamentally limited by the amplified spontaneous emission in the laser cavity. While one cannot, even in principle, remove this source of noise, one does have control over the pulse timing by using filtering and modulation. In this thesis, we report on the advances made in developing the understanding of timing jitter and stability in actively modelocked soliton fiber lasers. The main achievements reported here are: the development of a theory for quantum-limited timing jitter for the cases of amplitude and phase modulation (AM and PM, respectively); identification of a set of characteristic coefficients governing the physics of pulse retiming that depend on the laser parameters; construction of an apparatus-including the development of harmonically modelocked soliton fiber lasers in both a ring and a sigma configuration-to measure the predicted coefficients; and residual phase-noise measurements of the quantum-limited timing jitter using homodyne detection. The measurements of the characteristic coefficients and the timing jitter were found to be in good agreement with the theory. In addition, a theory for the case of harmonic modelocking was developed, and it is shown that the supermodes reveal pulse-to-pulse correlation statistics and must be included in measurements and calculations of the timing jitter. For the case of uncorrelated timing jitter between different pulses in the laser cavity, the supermodes are predicted to have the same timing jitter spectrum as the baseband mode, and this is confirmed by measurements.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Grein, Matthew Edward, 1970-"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Erich Ippen and Hermann Haus."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2002,"date_issued":"2002","date_published":"2002","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:03Z","subjects":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29237","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Erich Ippen and Hermann Haus."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Grein, Matthew Edward, 1970-"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2005-10-14T19:22:03Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2005-10-14T19:22:03Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2002"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29237"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2002.","Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-174)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The timing jitter of a modelocked laser is fundamentally limited by the amplified spontaneous emission in the laser cavity. While one cannot, even in principle, remove this source of noise, one does have control over the pulse timing by using filtering and modulation. In this thesis, we report on the advances made in developing the understanding of timing jitter and stability in actively modelocked soliton fiber lasers. The main achievements reported here are: the development of a theory for quantum-limited timing jitter for the cases of amplitude and phase modulation (AM and PM, respectively); identification of a set of characteristic coefficients governing the physics of pulse retiming that depend on the laser parameters; construction of an apparatus-including the development of harmonically modelocked soliton fiber lasers in both a ring and a sigma configuration-to measure the predicted coefficients; and residual phase-noise measurements of the quantum-limited timing jitter using homodyne detection. The measurements of the characteristic coefficients and the timing jitter were found to be in good agreement with the theory. In addition, a theory for the case of harmonic modelocking was developed, and it is shown that the supermodes reveal pulse-to-pulse correlation statistics and must be included in measurements and calculations of the timing jitter. For the case of uncorrelated timing jitter between different pulses in the laser cavity, the supermodes are predicted to have the same timing jitter spectrum as the baseband mode, and this is confirmed by measurements.","(cont.) A scheme for reducing the timing jitter of a pulse train outside of the laser cavity using group-velocity dispersion and phase modulation is described, and it is shown theoretically that a reduction in the timing jitter is possible, but only at the expense of the carrier-frequency fluctuations. It is also shown that two-photon absorption in a semiconductor mirror structure prevented pulse dropouts in a short harmonically modelocked soliton fiber laser producing picosecond pulses at 2 GHz."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Noise and stability of actively modelocked fiber lasers"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Erich Ippen and Hermann Haus."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:creator":["Grein, Matthew Edward, 1970-"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2005-10-14T19:22:03Z"],"dc:date.available":["2005-10-14T19:22:03Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2002"],"dc:description":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2002.","Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-174)."],"dc:description.abstract":["The timing jitter of a modelocked laser is fundamentally limited by the amplified spontaneous emission in the laser cavity. While one cannot, even in principle, remove this source of noise, one does have control over the pulse timing by using filtering and modulation. In this thesis, we report on the advances made in developing the understanding of timing jitter and stability in actively modelocked soliton fiber lasers. The main achievements reported here are: the development of a theory for quantum-limited timing jitter for the cases of amplitude and phase modulation (AM and PM, respectively); identification of a set of characteristic coefficients governing the physics of pulse retiming that depend on the laser parameters; construction of an apparatus-including the development of harmonically modelocked soliton fiber lasers in both a ring and a sigma configuration-to measure the predicted coefficients; and residual phase-noise measurements of the quantum-limited timing jitter using homodyne detection. The measurements of the characteristic coefficients and the timing jitter were found to be in good agreement with the theory. In addition, a theory for the case of harmonic modelocking was developed, and it is shown that the supermodes reveal pulse-to-pulse correlation statistics and must be included in measurements and calculations of the timing jitter. For the case of uncorrelated timing jitter between different pulses in the laser cavity, the supermodes are predicted to have the same timing jitter spectrum as the baseband mode, and this is confirmed by measurements.","(cont.) A scheme for reducing the timing jitter of a pulse train outside of the laser cavity using group-velocity dispersion and phase modulation is described, and it is shown theoretically that a reduction in the timing jitter is possible, but only at the expense of the carrier-frequency fluctuations. It is also shown that two-photon absorption in a semiconductor mirror structure prevented pulse dropouts in a short harmonically modelocked soliton fiber laser producing picosecond pulses at 2 GHz."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29237"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:title":["Noise and stability of actively modelocked fiber lasers"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:03Z"}