Some Properties of a Zeeman Laser with Anisotropic Mirrors

A laser subject to an axial magnetic field and having one end mirror which exhibits $x-y$-type loss anisotropy of an arbitrary degree is described from two points of view: (1) the resonance condition for a complete round-trip pass, and (2) the self-consistent-field equations with distributed loss. The behavior of the centrally turned frequency-locked modes of linear polarization is described in detail as an illustration of the fact that these two theoretical methods are in general not equivalent. Except in the limiting case of weak anisotropies, where the differences become negligible, a correct description must be based on the resonance condition.