Researchers improve laser behavior by tying laser knots

Researchers have created a new type of laser that, despite environmental noise and manufacturing defects, still performs as expected. Technically speaking, researchers have created a topology, time, and mode-locked laser. This study has the potential to improve sensors and computing hardware.

A mode-locked laser emits light with regular pulses instead of a continuous beam. Pulses can be very countable and can be counted in picoseconds or femtoseconds, that is, trillions of a second or billions of a second. Each of these pulses can provide high power and have many applications, including medical ophthalmic surgeries, nuclear reactors, and optical storage systems. For example, in ophthalmic surgery, they can provide precise cutting ability without generating the heat generated by a continuous beam of light. In the locked mode, this is the amplitude and phase of the light passing through the resonant cavity on the laser.

The resonant wave in a mode-locked laser forms a stable pulse mode. Researchers have now introduced new coupling into the resonant light pulses in the laser cavity to enhance the robustness of the mode-locked laser. This progress enables scientists to achieve topological time mode locking, despite defects, manufacturing defects, and environmental noise, pulse modes still exist. This study may improve frequency combs for use in communication, sensing, and computing devices. Traditional frequency combs are easily affected by environmental instability and noise.

A paper describing these findings has been published in Natural Physics. The corresponding author of the study, Alireza Marandi, said, "This fundamental research may have many applications. By implementing topological behavior in mode-locked lasers, we are essentially creating a junction that can make the laser's behavior more robust to noise. If the laser is usually in a mode-locked state and you shake it, everything will go crazy.". However, if the laser pulses are tangled together, you can shake the system without any confusion, at least within a certain range of shaking. Researchers plan to use new and improved lasers to access nonlinear topological physics that traditional experimental platforms cannot achieve.

Source: Laser Net