We present a detailed theory of dressed-state lasers, i.e., the lasers that operate due to the gain on an inverted transition between dressed states of a coupled atom-field system. We derive effective Hamiltonians that describe such lasers for the case of one- and two-photon resonances. We argue that, due to the presence of nearly resonant intermediate states, the use of gain media consisting of strongly driven two-level atoms provides an unorthodox yet promising means for achieving cw optical two-photon laser oscillation. We disscuss the stability properties of radiation generated by such media.

• Received 26 December 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.44.7717