Modal analysis for noise characterization and propagation in a femtosecond oscillator.

We study noise propagation dynamics in a femtosecond oscillator by injecting external noise on the pump intensity. We utilize a spectrally resolved homodyne detection technique that enables simultaneous measurement of amplitude and phase quadrature noises of different spectral bands of the oscillator. We perform a modal analysis of the oscillator noise in which each mode corresponds to a particular temporal/spectral shape of the pulsed light. We compare this modal approach with the conventional noise detection methods and find the superiority of our method, in particular unveiling a complete physical picture of noise distribution in the femtosecond oscillator.