Copper vapor laser with a self-pumped wavefront-reversing mirror

A report is given of the first operation of a copper vapor laser with a self-pumped wavefrontreversing mirror based on a four-wave interaction with the active medium and free of additional devices for the self-excitation of the laser. The steady-state energy characteristics are calculated and an analysis is made of the condition for the occurrence of cw lasing. It is shown that in the case of the degenerate four-wave interaction such cw lasing is possible only in the case of some saturation of the medium at a frequency coinciding with the center of the gain profile of the medium.