Role of pumping statistics in maser and laser dynamics: Density-matrix approach

Abstract
We discuss in detail the influence that the statistical properties of the pump source have on maser and laser dynamics. We derive a general master equation for the radiation field that is valid for a wide range of different pump mechanisms. If the pump noise is eliminated, we find that the photon number noise in a micromaser and a laser can be significantly reduced below the shot-noise level. In contrast, the phase fluctuations for both maser and laser are unaffected by the noise contribution of the pump.