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Abstract:

We present a very simple “toy model” that allows one to recover the essential mathematical and physical features that lead to excess quantum noise and excess linewidth in lasers with unstable resonators. In a consistent quantum mechanical description, the excess noise factor (Petermann factor) is physically attributed to loss-induced coupling between the cavity eigenmodes.

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Received: 30 July 1997 / Revised in final form: 29 October 1997 /Accepted: 3 November 1997

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Grangier, P., Poizat, JP. A simple quantum picture for the Petermann excess noise factor. Eur. Phys. J. D 1, 97–104 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050069

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050069

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