Investigations of models and experimental studies of a stationary regime for a laser with a saturable absorber

The laser with saturable absorber (LSA) with level structures in amplifier and absorber media has been modeled in a rate-equation approach introducing memory functions. This approach has been applied to vibrational structures in a CO₂ medium and rotovibrational structures in molecular absorbers. Experimental results for the LSA regimes with inhomogeneously and homogeneously broadened absorbers are presented. The theoretical results for the laser threshold and the Hopf bifurcation are derived by the model through a fitting of the laser-absorber coupling parameters.