Physical Review A

Second side-mode instability in optical bistability with a two-level, homogeneously broadened medium

Bernard Ségard, W. Sergent, B. Macke, N. B. Abraham

Published Jun 1, 1989• 7 citations

Abstract

We report the observation of an instability in a bistable optical system with a homogeneously broadened two-level medium involving the onset of the cavity side mode that is two modes away from the source frequency and three modes away from the molecular resonance frequency. These measurements extend the range of a recent report [Phys. Rev. A 39, 703 (1989)] of observations of the multimode instability in optical bistability predicted by Lugiato and Bonifacio [Lett. Nuovo Cimento 21, 505 (1978); 21, 510 (1978)], with the key difference being that the experimental observations in the previous report were limited to instabilities of the side mode adjacent to the source frequency.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.39.6029

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