Investigation of frequency stability and design criteria of ring lasers

We present a comprehensive Jones matrix analysis of two commonly used ring laser resonators. Different aspects on how to obtain low loss eigenmodes and/or high loss difference between the two directions of the cavity, and thus high frequency stability, are investigated. Also different approximations are evaluated.

Since the theory has been kept general, the derived results can be applied to a large class of ring laser designs. Finally the influence of backscattered light on the stability is considered. Experimental results on two ring lasers are discussed.