Multiple mode locking of lasers

Details of experimental results on higher order phase-locking phenomena of a He-Ne laser with a fixed cavity length and a fixed position of the laser tube in the cavity are presented. Two methods have been used in the experiments in order to obtain high bit-rate optical pulses. In one method modified Michelson-type resonators and a three-mirror Fabry-Perot resonator are utilized to suppress the oscillation of the undesired modes. Optical pulses of repetition rates up to about 600 megabits/s have been obtained. The second method utilizes an internal phase perturbation in a conventional Fabry-Perot cavity at a frequency nearly equal to a multiple of the longitudinal mode spacing. The repetition rate of optical pulses generated does not always coincide with the modulation frequency, but depends on the fine tuning of the frequency. In contrast to the former method, mode quenching is not necessarily required to produce multiple-bit pulses.