Hysteresis, self-stabilization, and instability of operation of a cw YAG laser with a thermal nonlinearity

An investigation was made of the characteristics of the operation of a cw YAG laser with a nonlinear InP:Fe element in a feedback loop. These characteristics were manifested in the spatial structure of the output beam. A hysteresis of the dependence of the lasing parameters on the current feeding a flashlamp was observed. Self-stabilization and instabilities of the spatial spectrum and of the output power of the laser beam were observed.