Dynamics of mode-locked nanolasers based on Hermite-Gaussian modes

The different dynamical behaviors of the Hermite-Gaussian (HG) modes of mode-locked nanolasers based on a harmonic photonic cavity are investigated in detail using a model based on a modified Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Such nanolasers are shown to exhibit mode locking with a repetition rate independent of the cavity length, which is a strong asset for compactness. The differences with respect to conventional lasers are shown to originate from the peculiar gain competition between HG modes, which is investigated in details. In the presence of a saturable absorber, the different regimes, i.e., Q switching, Q-switched mode locking, and continuous-wave (cw) mode locking, are isolated in a phase diagram and separately described. Mode locking is found to be robust against phase-intensity coupling and to be achievable in a scheme with spatially separated gain and absorber.