Time Behavior of a Laser with a Saturable Absorber as Q Switch

Abstract

The time behavior of solutions of a system of three coupled nonlinear rate equations, describing the photon density and the population inversion of lasering and absorbing centers within the resonator, is discussed qualitatively. It is shown that aperiodic and oscillatory solutions occur. By introducing the condition that the absorber follows the radiation field adiabatically, the original system can be reduced to a system of only two variables. In this case it is demonstrated that for certain parameter values, a stable limit cycle exists.