Phase transition theory of pulse formation in passively mode-locked lasers with dispersion and Kerr nonlinearity

Abstract

We extend our statistical mechanics approach (Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 (2002) 103901) to passively mode-locked lasers to also include dispersion and the Kerr nonlinearity and in particular the soliton laser case. The theory predicts for these general cases a discontinuous first-order phase transition at the onset of pulses that explains the power threshold behavior of mode-locked lasers.