Dynamical behavior of a laser containing a saturable absorber

The dynamic behavior of a CO
2
laser containing SF
6
as a saturable absorber was experimentally investigated using fast sweeps of the discharge current running through the laser. This system exhibits a dynamic broadening of the bistable region and a stabilization of the lasing and nonlasing states due to sweep dependent effects. The situation in which passive
Q
-switching can occur is also investigated. The experimental results are compared with those provided by computer simulations using the two "effective levels" of the LSA previously developed by Arimondo et al.