Instabilities and chaos in an infrared laser with saturable absorber: experiments and vibrorotational model

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · J. Opt. Soc. Am. B: Opt. Phys.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.6.000045· OSTI ID:6804105

de Tomasi, F; Hennequin, D; Zambon, B; Arimondo, E

The instabilities and chaos in a CO/sub 2/ laser containing SF/sub 6/ and /sup 15/NH/sub 3/ absorbers have been studied as a function of the laser-control parameters. By making use of a phase-portrait analysis, the instabilities have been classified through their orbits in the phase space around the laser-with-saturable-absorber (LSA) fixed points. A chaotic regime, reached through a sequence of period-doubling bifurcations, has been observed for an instability of limit cycles around one fixed point. The transition between different instability operations presents an intermediate regime, which we have defined as the hesitation regime and have characterized through the fluctuations in the return times. The observed phenomena have been reproduced within a model, including the rotational--vibrational structure of the amplifier and absorber media. The numerical analysis has shown that the LSA time evolution, as described through homoclinic orbits in the LSA phase space, depends on the relative attractions of the saddle point and the saddle focus fixed points.

• Research Organization: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Pisa, Piazzo Torricelli, 2, 56100 Pisa, Italy
• OSTI ID: 6804105
• Journal Information: J. Opt. Soc. Am. B: Opt. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Opt. Soc. Am. B: Opt. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 6:1; ISSN JOBPD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
ABSORPTION
AMMONIA
CARBON DIOXIDE LASERS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
GAS LASERS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFRARED RADIATION
LASER CAVITIES
LASERS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
NONLINEAR OPTICS
OPERATION
OPTICS
RADIATIONS
ROTATIONAL STATES
STABILITY
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR FLUORIDES
VIBRATIONAL STATES