Interplay of classical noise sources in the relaxation oscillations of an Nd:YAG laser

We present an investigation of fluctuations in the start-up of a single-mode, continuous wave, Nd:YAG laser that result from the interplay of classical pump and loss rate noise. We show that the timescale of the classical fluctuations is a key factor in determining the main structural features of relaxation oscillation ensembles. We find that long-timescale pump rate fluctuations are the primary factor determining the timing jitter of the first intensity spike, but that short-timescale loss rate fluctuations are necessary to match the sloping of the peaks of corresponding intensity spikes in an ensemble.