Semiclassical analysis of spectral singularities and their applications in optics

Motivated by possible applications of spectral singularities in optics, we develop a semiclassical method of computing spectral singularities. We use this method to examine the spectral singularities of a planar slab gain medium whose gain coefficient varies due to the exponential decay of the intensity of the pumping beam inside the medium. For both singly and doublypumped samples, we obtain universal upper bounds on the decay constant beyond which no lasing occurs. Furthermore, we show that the dependence of the wavelength of the spectral singularities on the value of the decay constant is extremely mild. This is an indication of the stability of optical spectral singularities.