We have found theoretically that the intracavity dispersion of a laser is i
ndependent of the pumping power and wavelength and that the resonant group-
velocity dispersion vanishes. We have experimentally observed that the intr
acavity dispersion of an erbium-doped fiber laser was independent of the pu
mping power and wavelength within the measuring error, which agrees well wi
th our theoretical predictions. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America.