Abstract
A simple model of nonlinear optical systems exhibiting instability—such as in laser action and in bistable absorption—is presented that provides a prototype of nonequilibrium thermodynamics on a statistical basis. The adiabatic reduction of the atomic degrees of freedom in a revised Langevin treatment establishes a fully consistent framework in which the active electromagnetic field mode is in contact with two thermal reservoirs (the cavity and the atoms) as well as being acted upon by an external field. The results are summarized by the first and second laws,dE=δW+δQ c +δQ A anddS ⩾ δQc/¯Tc+δQA/¯TA, with the statistical mechanical representations of the entities therein exhibiting the nature of the mode; i.e., (a) a heat-engine structure operating between two reservoirs of temperatures¯T c > 0 and¯T A < 0 for the laser, and (b) a nonlinear response against external work balanced by a single reservoir (¯ T c = ¯T A ) for the absorptive bistability.
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Hasegawa, H., Nakagomi, T., Mabuchi, M. et al. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics of lasing and bistable optical systems. J Stat Phys 23, 281–313 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011370
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011370