Monte carlo calculations of switching-time statistics in a two-mode laser

Abstract

A two-mode laser operating in the bistable region switches spontaneously from one mode to the other under the influence of quantum fluctuations. We present here a Monte Carlo simulation of the coupled Langevin equations describing the dynamics of a two-mode laser. We present results on the variation of average switching time with pump parameter. We show that if fluctuations in the pump parameter are incorporated, the Monte Carlo estimates agree well with measured switching times. To further check this observation we reanalyze the results of a recent analytical study and show that by including the same pump parameter fluctuations, the agreement with measurements becomes much better.