title: Continuous-wave laser oscillation in a Nd:YAG sphere.
abstract: I report the observation of continuous-wave laser oscillation in a Nd:YAG sphere. The spherical laser is excited by a dye laser that is focused to pump selectively certain regions of the sphere. With careful mode matching, single-frequency oscillation is obtained. The observed emission patterns agree well with the modes predicted by a classical treatment of a spherically symmetric resonator. These modes are described by products of spherical harmonics and Bessel functions, in contrast to the standard Gaussian-beam modes of a linear cavity.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baer