Abstract

The recent first experimental operation of a two-photon laser (TPL)¹ has increased the interest for these highly nonlinear systems. In the present work the operation conditions and dynamics of degenerate and non-degenerate TPLs described by a semiclassical microscopic three-level Hamiltonian² are investigated. This allows us to study the influence of a nonresonant intermediate level on the dynamics and (in the case of a degenerate configuration) make a comparison with the effective two-level Hamiltonian model studied by Haken and coworkers.³ Refs. 3 and 4 appear a particular cases of our more general approach.

© 1994 IEEE