Spontaneous mode locking in long-cavity xenon lasers

Spontaneous mode locking in Fabry--Perot xenon lasers has been experimentally investigated for cavity lengths up to 66 m. Our results show dependence of the number of pulses per round-trip time on the cavity length and the excitation current. Other dynamical effects such as the ringing and modulation of the mode-locked pulses have been observed. A semiclassical model for the self-locking of an inhomogeneously broadened laser is also presented. Numerical results based on this model describe many dynamical features observed in our experiments.