Instabilities in continuous-wave light propagation in absorbing media

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Abstract
The stability of a monochromatic constant-intensity laser beam propagating through a resonant medium is considered. It is found that many absorbers should exhibit a region of negative conductivity and, consequently, amplify perturbations. The associated gain is dependent on a number of variable parameters, such as laser-beam intensity, perturbation frequency, relaxation times, degeneracy, transverse mode, inhomogeneous broadening, etc. Putting absorbers inside Fabry-Perot interferometers allows the construction of plane-wave devices with a bistable output.