Optimizing Waveguide Array Mode-Locking for High-Power Fiber Lasers

A comprehensive theoretical treatment is given of the mode-locking dynamics produced by the intensity discrimination (saturable absorption) generated by the nonlinear mode-coupling in a waveguide array. Emphasis is placed on the mode-locking stability as a function of the critical physical parameters in the laser cavity. The theoretical characterization of the laser cavity's stability and dynamics allows for a comprehensive optimization of the laser cavity parameters toward achieving high peak power, high-energy pulses in both the anomalous and normal dispersion regimes.