Abstract

Time-varying fluctuations of the light intensity of a single-mode dye laser have been investigated experimentally by photoelectric correlation measurements. The experiments cover the region from the nominal laser threshold to about 1000 times below threshold, where pumping fluctuations have previously been found¹ to result in a relatively sharp maximum of over 100 in the relative intensity fluctuations. The two-time correlation functions are found to be of crude exponential form in this region. However, there are indications that the initial slope at zero time delay is near zero, as predicted for colored noise pumping fluctuations.² The correlation time of the laser light is found to be relatively insensitive to the working point over a wide range. The results are compared with computer solutions of the equations of motion with both delta-correlated spontaneous emission noise and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck pumping noise.^3,1

© 1985 Optical Society of America