Simple and efficient method of lines based algorithm for modeling of erbium doped Q-switched fluoride fiber lasers

An improved algorithm based on the method of lines for modeling of Q-switched fluoride glass based erbium doped fiber lasers is presented. The algorithm uses the finite difference method to reduce partial differential equations to a set of ordinary differential equations. Unlike the method of characteristics, the ratio of the temporal and spatial step is not fixed. Thus computationally efficient algorithms with an adaptive step control for the solution of a set of ordinary differential equations can be directly applied. The performance of the improved algorithm against the standard one is compared. The results obtained show that the improved algorithm is significantly more computationally efficient.