In this paper we report an experimental and theoretical study of the joint
effect of two types of longitudinal gain nonuniformity (partial cavity fill
ing by an active medium and the exponential absorption of pump intensity al
ong the active element) on competitive interaction of longitudinal modes. A
justification of the approach to the description of solid-state laser dyna
mics with gain nonuniformity, where the dimension of the model is the same
as in a simple case of uniform longitudinal gain distribution, is presented
. A detailed comparison of different approaches to the problem of describin
g the longitudinal gain nonuniformity is made.