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Abstract: Focussing particularly on solid-state laser systems, the phase-noise penalties of laser injection-locking and electro-optical phase-locking are derived using linearised quantum mechanical models. The fundamental performance limit (minimum achievable output phase noise) for an injection-locked laser (IJL) system at low frequencies is equal to that of a standard phase-insensitive amplifier, whereas, in principle, that of a phase-locked laser (PLL) system can be better. At high frequencies, the output phase noise of the IJL system is limited by that of the master laser, while that of the PLL system tends to a weighted sum of contributions from the master and slave laser fields. Under conditions of large amplification, particularly where there has been significant attenuation, the noise penalties are shown to be substantial. Nonideal photodetector characteristics are shown to add significantly to the noise penalties for the PLL system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We experimentally investigate the polarisation dependence of the locking bandwidth and transfer of amplitude modulation within an injection locked laser system. We find that the measured locking bandwidth of our injection locked laser varies by a factor of 2 as a function of polarisation. The transfer function for amplitude modulation on the master laser is strongly polarisation dependent and does not reflect a simple reduction in effective master laser power. As an explanation of the effects observed, we introduce a “polarisation resonance” condition for injection locking a laser cavity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]