Mode locking in an Ar+ laser

An experimental study was made of active mode locking in an argon laser. A determination was made of the width of the locking region suitable for generation of stable (in amplitude and phase) trains of subnanosecond pulses. The influence of the discharge current in the active medium and of the depth of loss modulation on the width of this region is found. Oscillograms of the output pulses were obtained and the laser emission spectrum was recorded in the mode-locked regime.