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Lecture 8: Laser amplifiers

Lecture 8: Laser amplifiers

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Real coherent <strong>amplifiers</strong><br />

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Real coherent <strong>amplifiers</strong> deliver a gain and phase shift that are frequency<br />

dependent. The gain and phase shift determine the amplifier’s transfer<br />

function.<br />

For a sufficiently large input amplitude, real <strong>amplifiers</strong> generally exhibit<br />

saturation, a form of nonlinear behavior in which the output amplitude<br />

does not increase in proportion to the input amplitude.<br />

Saturation introduces harmonic components into the output, provided that<br />

the amplifier bandwidth is sufficiently broad to pass them.<br />

Real <strong>amplifiers</strong> also introduce noise, s.t. a random fluctuating component<br />

is present at the output, regardless of the input.<br />

An amplifier may therefore be characterized by the following features:<br />

• Gain<br />

• Bandwidth<br />

• Phase shift<br />

• Power source<br />

• Nonlinearity and gain saturation<br />

• Noise<br />

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