Self-pulsing instability in inhomogeneously broadened traveling-wave lasers

The self-pulsing instability in inhomogeneously broadened unidirectional traveling-wave single-mode lasers is discussed in detail. The analytic linear stability analysis of the stationary solutions shows that, in the case of a good-cavity limit and a large inhomogeneous linewidth, no self-pulsing instability occurs. On the other hand, in the case of a bad-cavity limit, there are two instabilities. At the same time, in the intermediate-cavity case two self-pulsing instabilities also exist; one corresponds to a lower threshold value, and the other to a higher one.