Experimental study of the turn-on statistics of class-B lasers under the influence of additive noise

Abstract

The experimental results of the laser peak-amplitude statistics as a function of the delay time at turn-on are presented for both pump and loss switching in a ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$ laser: the data show slopes having a different sign for the two cases. A comparison between the two kinds of switching and a detailed physical interpretation of the mechanisms that cause distinct statistics is offered. We describe in detail the experimental setup and carefully discuss the conditions that must be met to obtain a true statistics of the influence of additive noise. We present an example for the statistics of multiplicative noise and summarize the characteristics of the different kinds of statistical distributions in the laser turn-on process. A detailed discussion of the meaning of the statistics obtained with swept parameters is also included.