The spectrum and competition of autowaves in a wide-aperture laser with a saturable filter

The lasing dynamics of a wide-aperture laser with an intracavity saturable absorber is theoretically studied. The saturable absorber inserting gives rise to an autowave profile of the optical field. The characteristic equation for the perturbations of the laser field is derived and solved. The spatial spectrum of autowaves is determined. The relevant set of equations was numerically solved for two types of resonant boundary conditions: total reflection of light from the side boundaries of the cavity and a coaxial laser geometry.