Response of a CW Nd3+:YAG laser to sinusoidal cavity perturbations

Sinusoidal perturbations are applied to the resonator of a CW Nd³⁺:YAG laser to study the response of the system. Two kinds of resonances are observed. The resonant AM mode exhibits a sinusoidal modulation in the output and its frequency is determined by the pumping power and cavity losses. The spiking mode shows a train of regular pulses and its frequency is constant. Nonlinear coupled rate equations are solved to show solutions in good agreement with the experimental observations. The effect of nonresonant perturbation on the output is also presented.