Abstract

The effects o, controlled variation of losses of the clockwise and counterclockwise propagating modes in a two-mode dye ring laser are investigated experimentally. A current-controlled variable Faraday rotator with crystal quartz compensator is introduced into the dye laser cavity, and the probability distributions P₁(I₁) and P₂(I₂) of the two mode intensities I₁,I₂ are measured photoelectrically with the help of a fast Transiac digitizer as the loss asymmetry is varied. Both P₁(I₁) and P₂(I₂) typically have two peaks at zero and nonzero intensities, corresponding to the off and on states for that mode. From the measurements the average light intensities 〈I₁〉 and 〈I₂〉 and the relative on-off probabilities can be extracted and compared with theory.

© 1987 Optical Society of America