Influence of the spatial modulation of populations on the dynamic and fluctuation characteristics of a laser

The results are given of a calculation of the dynamic characteristics and the natural fluctuations of the radiation emitted by gas and solid-state lasers under standing-wave conditions. These calculations are performed making allowance for all the spatial harmonics of the working-level populations. It is shown that in the case of a gas laser with an inhomogeneously broadened line, the higher spatial harmonics have very little influence on the characteristics of the output radiation. In the case of solid-state and gas lasers with homogeneously broadened lines, an allowance for the modulation of the level populations is of importance only in weak fields, in which it alters the spectral densities of the radiation amplitude and frequency.