Stimulated emission divided by the input intensity: Substituting this definition into the prior equation, we find the general gain equation: In the special case where the input signal is small compared to the saturation intensity, in other words, then the general gain equation gives the small signal gain as or which is identical to the small signal gain equation (see above). For large input signals, where the gain approaches unity and the general gain equation approaches a linear asymptote: .3 Laser Fundamentals, William T. Silfvast Stimulated emission Stimulated emission is the process by which an incoming photon of a specific frequency can
Stimulated emission of energy levels 1 and 2, respectively. The intensity (in watts per square meter) of the stimulated emission is governed by the following differential equation: as long as the intensity "I"("z") is small enough so that it does not have a significant effect on the magnitude of the population inversion. Grouping the first two factors together, this equation simplifies as where is the "small-signal gain coefficient" (in units of radians per meter). We can solve the differential equation using separation of variables: Integrating, we find: or where The saturation intensity "I" is defined as the input intensity at which the