Spatial and Spectral Effects in Continuous-Wave Intracavity Raman Lasers

We develop an analytic model to explore spatial and spectral effects in intracavity Raman lasers. The effects of deterioration of the spatial and spectral properties of the fundamental and Stokes fields on the laser performance are derived. We quantify how the fundamental field strength can be used to diagnose the behavior of the system, and apply this tool to key prior experimental results.