Photon statistics of a dye laser

The fluctuation properties of a cw dye laser, pumped by an argon-ion laser, have been investigated by photon-counting and two-time correlation measurements. The results show significant departures from the usual single-mode laser theory in the region of threshold and below. However, there are indications that the departures may be due to extraneous rather than intrinsic effects, and when these effects are subtracted out, the results are in substantial agreement with the predictions of the usual theory.