Theory and Simulation of Passive Multifrequency Mode-Locking With Waveguide Arrays

The periodic application of a multinotch frequency filter in a laser cavity operating with normal or anomalous dispersion is used to achieve stable and robust multifrequency passive mode-locking. The stable mode-locking produces nonlinear bound-states which propagate at the average group-velocity of the mode-locked frequencies. An averaged model which includes the frequency filtering is also considered. This model has exact solutions for which stability can be explicitly calculated, thus rendering insight into the underlying stability properties of multifrequency mode-locking. The model suggests a promising source for multi- frequency photonic applications.