Investigation of the delay of stimulated emission from a CaF2:Dy2+ laser relative to pumping pulses

Experimental and theoretical investigations were made of the delay of stimulated emission from a CaF₂:Dy²⁺ laser pumped with short pulses. The ratio of the delay time to the duration of the laser pulses was determined. A comparison of the experimental data with the calculated stimulated-emission development times indicated that the effective population inversion continued to rise after the end of a pumping pulse. Possible causes of this rise were considered.