Effect of the laser axial modes on the coherence length of the laser beam

The effect of the presence of the axial modes within the spectral halfwidth of a laser spectral line on the visibility of its interference fringes is represented. It is found in case of axial modes with equal spectral halfwidths that the dominant factor in determining the coherence length of the laser beam is the spectral halfwidth of its axial mode and not the spectral halfwidth of the laser line. For the case of a laser beam with axial modes of different spectral halfwidths, the calculation shows a coherence length, closer to the mode with the smaller halfwidth.