Pulse waveforms and radiation power were detected at different distance x2. It is obviously that increasing in x2 leads to increasing in optical path L1 (x1 + x2) that ASE passes twice. Thus, the increasing in L1 with a step 0.3 m leads to an increase in time delay (td) between ASE and input signal with a step:
Δt = 2∙Δx2∙v∙10− 9=2∙0.3∙3.3∙10− 9=0.6∙3.3∙10− 9=1.98 ns,
Where v – speed of light per nanosecond (m/ns).
Figure 2, a represents the dependencies of output radiation power (POUT), single-pass radiation (P1) and two dependencies of amplified-spontaneous emission (P0) in different operating modes on distance (L1) and time delay (td) respectively. It should be noted that the dependence of output radiation (POUT) and constant value of ASE (P0) were determined due to experimental measurements, while two others were calculated. At this stage only the dependence of the output radiation (POUT) on distance should be taken into account. It is obviously that precision measurement of time delay (td) is almost impossible in this case. Firstly, time delay (td) between two signals should be measure relative to the selected fixed level, for example, to 10% of the signal amplitude (0.1∙Um). The increase in L1 leads to a decrease in the power of input signal due to its divergence and losses. Hence the signal amplitude is decreased and its form also is changed. Thus, in this case the reference point is a 10% of the first signal peak. It means that the time delay in nanoseconds range between two radiation pulses cannot be determine without measurement error. The comparison of the experimental data with calculated ones shows that the measurement error does not exceed 1 ns in most cases. The maximal measurement error was 1,8 ns.
Figure 2, a shows that the maximal power radiation is 3,47 W at minimal distance (L1) of 0.8 m respectively. The time delay (td) equals 5,28 ns at this distance. Next the distance (time delay) is increased and as results the radiation power is decreased. Figure 2, b represents example of light waveforms at time delay (td) equals 17.2 ns. The dashed curve 1 indicates ASE when lock screen (LS) is placed in front of mirror (M). The curves 2 and 3 are single-pass radiation and input signal at absent of lock screen (LS) respectively. The main feature of theses waveforms is the correspondence between ASE and single-pass radiation. The single-pass radiation completely repeats the ASE until the moment that input signal enters to active element. Further input signal is amplified due to the inverse population and its amplitude and power are increased.
The number of waveforms is presented in Fig. 3. Two types of waveforms are shown at each time delay (td). The first type contains ASE (1 – LASE), single-pass radiation (2 – LSP) and input signal (3 – LINP). The second type of waveforms contains ASE (1ꞌ, 2ꞌ) at each output window when lock screen (LS) was placed in front of mirror (M). The signal amplitudes are different due to the use of different photodetectors, each of them is calibrated according to its own features. Nevertheless, pulse forms are almost identical. It is interesting that the output signal has two stages of increasing before input signal and after it – it can be seen, for example, Fig. 3, a). The first stage duration is very small, but nevertheless it is similar to the ASE.
All other examples in Fig. 3 show cases when time delay (td) is increased and hence the part of output signal begins more similar to ASE. It is obviously that output signal recorded by photodetector 2 represents set of ASE and input signal amplified by active medium. The reason of this effect is propagation time of ASE to mirror and its return to the active medium. The part of ASE, which return to the active element, is input signal. All graphs of the output signal (LOUT) were integrated, and the integration was carried out in two stages: first, the area under the graph corresponded to ASE was determined and then the same was carried out for the remaining area under the rest of the output signal graph. For example, ASE is only 3.84% of the output signal at time delay (td=7.2 ns) while the remaining 96.16% corresponds to single-pass radiation. The power of output signal is 3.28 W in this case, it means that ASE is 0.13 W and single-pass radiation is 3.15 W. The results of integration and recalculation of the obtained values from percent to power are presented in Table 2. The obtained dependencies are shown in Fig. 2, a.
Table 2
– The part of single-pass radiation (P1) and ASE (P0) in the output signal (POUT)
td, ns
|
POUT, W
|
P1, W
|
P0, W
|
P1/P0
|
5.2
|
3.47
|
3.42
|
0.05
|
65,45
|
7.2
|
3.28
|
3.15
|
0.13
|
25,07
|
9.2
|
3.05
|
2.88
|
0.17
|
16,51
|
11.2
|
2.71
|
2.43
|
0.28
|
8,66
|
13.2
|
2.53
|
2.18
|
0.35
|
6,29
|
15.2
|
2.39
|
2.00
|
0.39
|
5,07
|
17.2
|
2.13
|
1.68
|
0.45
|
3,74
|
19.2
|
2.02
|
1.48
|
0.54
|
2,77
|
21.2
|
1.82
|
1.22
|
0.60
|
2.04
|
23.2
|
1.68
|
1.02
|
0.66
|
1.56
|
Thus, as the time delay increased, the contribution of ASE to the output signal increased. The largest ASE contribution was 0.66 W with a maximum time delay of 23.2 ns. It should be taken into account for laser active optical systems based on the brightness amplifier. It means, that the numerical parameters the images determine not only on the object parameters but on the optical circuits (distance between the object under observations and brightness amplifier).