Abstract
Pulse propagation in a photo dissociation iodine laser amplifier and saturable absorber are investigated by the use of semi-classical treatments. Based upon the numerical integration of the semi-classical equations, the effects of the linear propagation loss and of the input pulse energy on nonlinear pulse amplification are discussed. From our calculations, it has been made clear that the pulse showing stable propagation through the amplifier is the one having a pulse area of 2.46π and which extracts energy efficiently from the amplifier. It is also shown that there is a close relation between the peak power of the propagated pulse and the rise time, and that the disadvantages of nonlinear amplification can be eliminated. In treating energy absorption, the results we obtained provide a good fit with those obtained experimentally. Our semi-classical equations are useful for analyzing pulse propagation in a complete iodine amplifier system with a saturable absorber.
