Polarization properties of a single-mode gas laser in transverse magnetic fields

The effect of transversally applied magnetic fields on the polarization behavior of a single-mode gas laser is theoretically investigated, stressing the importance of the additivity of respective contributions influencing the time evolution of polarization parameters. By adding a new element to the existing theory, namely the contribution of magnetic-field-free regions in the active medium, and by considering the relatively large effects that small cavity anisotropies can cause, several apparent discrepancies between experiments and existing theory are resolved.