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Fluctuations and correlations of emission from random lasers

Jason W. Merrill, Hui Cao, and Eric R. Dufresne
Phys. Rev. A 93, 021801(R) – Published 8 February 2016

Abstract

When light travels through strongly scattering media with optical gain, the synergy between diffusive transport and stimulated emission can lead to lasing action. Below the threshold pump power, the emission spectrum is smooth and does not change from shot to shot. Above the lasing threshold, the spectrum of emitted light becomes spiky and shows strong fluctuations from shot to shot. Recent experiments have reported that emitted intensity resembles a power-law distribution (i.e., Lévy statistics). To separate intrinsic intensity fluctuations from the motion of scatterers, we compare the statistics of samples with stationary or freely diffusing scatterers. Consistent with previous reports, we observe Lévy-like statistics when intensity data are pooled across an ensemble of scatterer configurations. For fixed scatterers, we find exponential intensity distributions for individual lasing modes whose mean intensities vary widely from mode to mode. Lévy-like statistics reemerges when data are combined across many lasing modes. Additionally, we find strong correlations of intensity fluctuations of lasing modes across wavelengths. A simple mean-field statistical model captures the observed one- and two-point statistics, where correlations in emission intensity arise from competition among all lasing modes for limited gain.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 31 August 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.021801

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Research Areas
  1. Physical Systems
Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Jason W. Merrill1, Hui Cao2, and Eric R. Dufresne3,4,*

  • 1Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA
  • 2Departments of Applied Physics and Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA
  • 3Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
  • 4School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA

  • *ericd@ethz.ch

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Issue

Vol. 93, Iss. 2 — February 2016

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