Dispersion-induced instability in CW laser oscillators

A CW-pumped laser with a short photon cavity lifetime may show an unstable output in the form of spontaneous pulsations or noise. In this paper, a model is developed which reconciles previous studies of unstable behavior in homogeneously and inhomogeneously broadened lasers. Specific regions of instability are predicted for xenon lasers, and it is concluded that some degree of inhomogeneous broadening makes the instability much more likely to be observed.