As the TEM and higher order modes extend further from the cavity axis than the TEM

mode, they will only oscillate if the aperture of the cavity is large enough. These and higher
order modes can, therefore, be eliminated by narrowing the laser cavity leaving just the
TEM mode oscillating. The TEM mode is often called the uniphase mode, since all parts
of the propagating wavefront are in phase; this is not the case with higher order modes and
in fact phase reversals account for the higher order transverse mode patterns. Consequently
a laser operating only in the TEM mode has the greatest spectral purity and degree of coher-
ence, while operation in multimode form provides considerably more power.
It should be noted that each transverse mode will have the axial modes discussed above
associated with it, so that the total spread in the laser spectrum may be (relatively) large.

In the 40 years since Maiman reported the first observation of successful laser action in ruby,
there has been an extremely rapid increase in the types of lasers and in the range of mate-
rials in which lasing has been shown to occur. It is not possible to describe all of these devel
opments, so in this section we have concentrated on a description of the construction and
mode of operation of some of the more commonly available and important lasers. These are
classified into four groups: doped insulator, semiconductor, gas and dye lasers.