Mechanisms for Lasing with Cold Atoms as the Gain Medium

Abstract

We realize a laser with a cloud of cold rubidium atoms as gain medium, placed in a low-finesse cavity. Three different regimes of laser emission are observed corresponding respectively to Mollow, Raman and Four Wave Mixing mechanisms. We measure an output power of up to 300 $\mu$W and present the main properties of these different lasers in each regime