Power-stabilization system for He-Ne laser with transverse microwave discharge

Studies performed with a compact He-Ne laser with transverse microwave discharge (3) have shown that instability of the radiation power (1-3%) is caused by (in addition to the variations of resonator Q that are inherent in lasers with dc discharge) a fluctuation source that involves unstable operation of the microwave generator. A system for stabilization of the output power of an He-Ne laser with transverse microwave discharge is described that allows the level of intensity fluctuation to be reduced from 1-3% to 0.15%.