Measurement of the spatiotemporal dynamics of simple transverse patterns in a pulsed transversely excited atmospheric CO2 laser

A study of the spatiotemporal evolution of a pulsed CO2 laser is performed using an experimental setup which allows transverse pattern recordings with 1-ns resolution. A rich laser dynamics, hidden until now behind temporal a verages, is uncovered. Features like spontaneous symmetry breaking, mode be ating, and phase locking are observed and theoretically interpreted using M axwell-Bloch equations. Numerical simulations by means of mode decompositio ns are performed, showing very good agreement with the empirical results. T he influence of the curvature of the mirrors in the dynamics of the system is also theoretically analyzed.