title: Experimental investigation of relative timing jitter in passively synchronized Q-switched lasers.
abstract: Relative timing jitter between synchronized Q-switched lasers, or lack thereof, is important for stable sum-frequency generation. Experimental investigation of two passively synchronized lasers shows that the jitter is minimized when the free-running repetition rates of the two lasers are close to, but not exactly, matching. When the free-running repetition rates are matched, the jitter is significantly large. At the best operating point, the pulse-to-pulse period was 200 μs, while the relative jitter between the two lasers was 9 ns. If the effect of the master laser's pulse-to-pulse jitter is removed, the residual timing jitter between the two lasers was 6 ns, which corresponds to the lower limit set by pump power fluctuations and noise from spontaneous emission.
authors.affiliation: DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark. hach@fotonik.dtu.dk
authors.forename: Haynes Pak Hay
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tidemand-Lichtenberg
authors.forename: Ole Bjarlin
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Peter Eskil
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Paul Michael
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pedersen