MACROSCOPIC DYNAMICS OF A MASER WITH NON-POISSONIAN INJECTION STATISTICS

We derive a master equation for the dynamics of a maser or laser with periodic injection of excited atoms. The model includes regular pumping with single atoms,but it also covers the case of periodic injection of groups of atoms, whose number may fluctuate. To obtain a quasicontinuous master equation for such a periodically kicked dynamics, we consider a macroscopic state of the held that is obtained from the true microscopic state by a time average over many periods. The master equation for that time-averaged state correctly describes both the stationary and the transient properties of the maser on a coarse, macroscopic scale. Numerical and analytical results based on this Equation are compared with a microscopic, step-by-step resolution df the field's evolution along the periods. Deviations from the microscopic results only occur when frequencies of the order of the (mechanical) injection frequency of the pump become relevant. The recently predicted regularity-induced line splitting in the emission spectrum of a maser is an example for such a situation.