Abstract

With our experimental setup the output characteristics of ruby lasers have been studied. The photographic study was made to measure the beam divergence. From these measurements, the angular spread of the maser beam is obtained as 2.4 × 10⁻⁴ rad, which is fairly close to the theoretical limit. At high input pumping energies, the beam divergence increases considerably. This is believed to be due to generation of more transverse modes. The light output from the maser is focused (by a lens of a long focal length) onto the photocathode of a photomultiplier tube. The output from the photomultiplier is then displayed on a spectrum analyzer. In this way, beat notes corresponding to simultaneous axial mode oscillations are obtained and studied. The line-width of these beats is around 500–700 kc/sec when the maser is operated near threshold. This is much smaller than it is possible to measure in a conventional maser. At high pumping powers, the line-width increases up to 4 Mc/sec or so.

© 1965 Optical Society of America

Interference Rings in Ruby Maser Beams

B. P. Stoicheff and A. Szabo
Appl. Opt. 2(8) 811-815 (1963)

Investigation of Ruby Optical Maser Characteristics Using Microwave Phototubes

B. J. McMurtry
Appl. Opt. 2(8) 767-786 (1963)

Mode Control in Ruby Optical Masers by Means of Elastic Deformation

Morley S. Lipsett and M. W. P. Strandberg
Appl. Opt. 1(3) 343-357 (1962)

Photomixing Experiments with a Ruby Optical Maser and a Traveling-Wave Microwave Phototube

B. J. McMurtry and A. E. Siegman
Appl. Opt. 1(S1) 133-135 (1962)

Photomixing Experiments with a Ruby Optical Maser and a Traveling-Wave Microwave Phototube

B. J. McMurtry and A. E. Siegman
Appl. Opt. 1(1) 51-53 (1962)