Stochastic and chaotic effects in the ring laser

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6063484

Chyba, T H

Experimental and theoretical distinctions are drawn between chaotic and stochastic laser processes. Elementary notions of stochastic and chaotic processes are introduced and the relevant laser theory is outlined. The spontaneous switching between the two counterpropagating cavity modes in the bidirectional dye ring laser is experimentally shown to be a stochastic rather than a chaotic process - a macroscopic manifestation of quantum fluctuations. However, the rapid intensity fluctuations in the laser are experimentally demonstrated to be chaotic. The underlying source of this behavior is the turbulent flow of the dye through the dye cell. For the standing wave single-mode dye laser, a first order phase transition analogy is observed which is induced by stochastic noise with a finite bandwidth. The phase jump instability of the bidirectional He:Ne ring laser with backscattering is investigated. The deterministic equations for this laser are shown to be exactly soluble and not chaotic. Conditions are derived under which the field phases are unstable and may exhibit discontinuities. An experiment is also described which compares the calculated absorbed photon flux, the measured absorbed photon flux, and the measured photocurrent when a quasimonochromatic collimated laser beam falls upon a vacuum photodiode.

• Research Organization: Rochester Univ., NY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6063484
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
426002* -- Engineering-- Lasers & Masers-- (1990-)
BACKSCATTERING
CURRENTS
DYE LASERS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FLUID FLOW
INCOHERENT SCATTERING
LASER CAVITIES
LASERS
LIQUID LASERS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PHOTODIODES
PHOTONS
Q-SWITCHING
RING LASERS
SCATTERING
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES
STANDING WAVES
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
TURBULENT FLOW