Effect of saturable nonlinearity on cw stability in passively mode-locked lasers with fast saturable absorbers

Abstract: The self-starting dynamics of a model for passively mode-locked lasers with saturable absorber, in which the optical amplifier has a saturable nonlinearity, is examined. The basic assumption is that the laser will operate in the mode-locked regime when the continuous-wave regime becomes unstable. Within the framework of the modulational-instability analysis, a global map for the laser self-starting criteria is constructed. According to this map, the saturable nonlinearity enhances the input-field intensity required for laser self-starting. Analytical expression of the zero modulation-frequency regime of this threshold input field is derived, which turns out to be valid in the normal as well as in the anomalous dispersion regime, where evidence of self-starting is also given.