Intracavity Phase Interferometry is a phase sensing technique using mode-locked lasers in which two intracavity pulses circulate. The beat frequency between the two output frequency combs is proportional to a phase shift to be measured. A laser gyro is a particular implementation of this device. The demonstrated sensitivity of 10 −8 could be manipulated by applying a giant dispersion to each tooth of the comb. Such coupling is achieved with an intracavity etalon, resulting a large change in phase response of a ring laser. This change is shown to be unrelated to the average pulse velocity within the laser cavity.
A bidirectional mode-locked fiber laser producing two correlated frequency combs of the same repetition rate is demonstrated. The intensity dependence of pulse and phase velocities are measured simultaneously. As expected, the phase delay is determined by the linear and nonlinear indices of refraction. The nonlinear Kerr effect contribution to the pulse velocity is dwarfed by a contribution from saturable gain dynamics.
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