ORC Seminar Series

Professor Pascal Besnard
CNRS FOTON, ENSSAT, Lannion, France

Date: 5 March 2008
Venue: Building 46 Room 2005 (Lecture Theatre C)
Time: 2pm

The synchronisation of two oscillators is a basic experiment in physics and as well in laser physics. A detailed description of this process is made through the example of optical injection. If this phenomenon has been extensively described since the birth of lasers, there are still new observations and interpretations to be given.

In this talk, we will review the different properties of optical injection and illustrate how often this basic process is found in experiments. Finally, we stress its use in clock recovery and in the realisation of achromatic components for FFTH.

Pascal Besnard received the Ph.D. degree from ENSSAT, University of Rennes I, Rennes, France, in 1991. He spent one year as postdoctoral researcher at the Ontario Lightwave and Laser Research Center, Toronto, ON, Canada. He then moved to ENSSAT, Lannion, France, where he is a Professor. He is at the head of the Laser Physics Group at the CNRS unity FOTON. His principal research interests include laser physics, optical injection, optical feedback, and mode-locked lasers.