Resonant excess quantum noise in lasers with mixed guiding.
We show experimentally that the combination of soft-edged gain and index guiding can lead to resonant excess quantum noise. Resonances with excess noise factors close to 100 are observed in end-pumped Nd3+:YVO4 lasers for cavity lengths in which two modes experience similar gain. An associated increase in the relaxation oscillation damping rate demonstrates that the fluctuation enhancement is indeed caused by excess quantum noise and not by dynamic instabilities.