The dynamics of a semiconductor laser with an intracavity atomic absorber is studied numerically. The study is motivated by the experiments of Barbosa et al. [Opt. Lett. 32, 1869 (2007)], using a semiconductor junction as an active medium, with its output face being antireflection coated, and a cell containing cesium vapor placed in a cavity that was closed by a diffraction grating (DG). The DG allowed scanning the lasing frequency across the
D2 line in the Cs spectrum, and different regimes such as frequency bistability or dynamic instability were observed depending on the operating conditions. Here we propose a rate-equation model that takes into account the dispersive losses and the dispersive refractive index change in the laser cavity caused by the presence of the Cs vapor cell. These effects are described through a modification of the complex susceptibility. The numerical results are found to be in qualitative good agreement with some of the observations; however, some discrepancies are also noticed, which can be attributed to multi-longitudinal-mode emission in the experiments. The simulations clearly show the relevant role of the Lamb dips and crossover resonances, which arise on top of the Doppler-broadened
D2 line in the Cs spectrum, and are due to the forward and backward intracavity fields interacting resonantly with the Cs atoms. When the laser frequency is locked in a dip, a reduction in the frequency noise and of the intensity noise is demonstrated.