Bistability and Chaos in Counterpropagating Laser Beams

  • Daniel J. Gauthier
  • Michelle S. Malcuit
  • Robert W. Boyd
Conference paper

Abstract

In this paper we describe experimental observations which demonstrate that multi-stability and chaotic instabilities can occur in cavity-less nonlinear optical systems. In particular, we have experimentally investigated the stability characteristics of near-resonant laser beams counterpropagating through sodium vapor. We observe multistability in the states of polarization of the transmitted laser beams for the case of moderately strong nonlinear coupling and observe chaotic fluctuations in the polarizations for the case of larger nonlinear coupling (i.e. for larger atomic number densities or for larger laser intensities). These obser­vations confirm the predictions that chaotic fluctuations1 and bistability2,3 can occur in the absence of external feedback, solely through the interaction of two beams of light.

Keywords

Nonlinear Coupling Probe Wave Forward Wave Kerr Medium Transmitted Laser Beam 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Plenum Press, New York 1990

Authors and Affiliations

  • Daniel J. Gauthier
    • 1
  • Michelle S. Malcuit
    • 1
  • Robert W. Boyd
    • 1
  1. 1.The Institute of OpticsUniversity of RochesterRochesterUSA

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