Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate field-enhanced lasing, i.e., lasing made possible through an excitation-field-mediated boost in the gain normally realizable on a weakly inverted transition. The excitation field responsible for the boost in gain, the "helper" field couples the lasing transition to another transition in a cascade-type three-level atomic system. The gain boosting operative in our driven three-level-atom experiments derives from the same essential physics that gives rise to the "inversionless" gain that has recently attracted so much attention.^1,2 In terms of achieving laser operation in new regimes, gain boosting may play much the same role as inversionless gain.

© 1996 Optical Society of America