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Physical Review A

Periodic attractors in two-photon processes

Paul Mandel, Nicolas Pettiaux, Wang Kaige, P. Galatola, Luigi A. Lugiato

Published Jan 1, 1991• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider three nonlinear optical models that display a two-photon process and exhibit a Hopf bifurcation corresponding to a phase instability. The three models describe second-harmonic generation, two-photon optical bistability, and degenerate four-wave mixing in resonant cavities. In all three cases we consider only the resonant configuration and analyze the attractors which emerge when the driving field is increased beyond the Hopf bifurcation threshold. At a finite distance from threshold, we find a hysteresis domain that involves a pair of periodic attractors. For all three models, each of the two solutions has the same ``field portrait'' i.e., the same representation in a plane whose axes are the imaginary and the real parts of the electric field. This suggests that the scenario is generic for this class of systems. On the other hand, the models for two-photon optical bistability and degenerate four-wave mixing in resonant cavities exhibit additional nongeneric attractors when the driving field is further increased.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.43.424

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We consider three nonlinear optical models that display a two-photon process and exhibit a Hopf bifurcation corresponding to a phase instability. The three models describe second-harmonic generation, two-photon optical bistability, and degenerate four-wave mixing in resonant cavities. In all three cases we consider only the resonant configuration and analyze the attractors which emerge when the driving field is increased beyond the Hopf bifurcation threshold. At a finite distance from threshold, we find a hysteresis domain that involves a pair of periodic attractors. For all three models, each of the two solutions has the same ``field portrait'' i.e., the same representation in a plane whose axes are the imaginary and the real parts of the electric field. This suggests that the scenario is generic for this class of systems. On the other hand, the models for two-photon optical bistability and degenerate four-wave mixing in resonant cavities exhibit additional nongeneric attractors when the driving field is further increased.
The codimension-two bifurcation set of single-mode optical bistable systems is investigated. The entire set is classified into three classes, a cusp bifurcation set, a degenerate Hopf bifurcation set, and the intersection of a Hopf bifurcation and a saddle-node bifurcation. Based on the specification of degenerate Hopf bifurcation, super- and subcritical Hopf bifurcations can be identified. It is found that, in the subcritical Hopf bifurcation region, an attractor of time-dependent motion may coexist with the stable stationary solution when the cavity is filled by a passive medium. Moreover, the coexistence of three attractors is observed for certain parameter combinations.
The distributions, in parameter space, of subcritical Hopf bifurcations and the various attractors of time-dependent motions of optical bistable systems are investigated systematically. The main emphasis is placed on the influence of the variations of the control parameters on the distributions. We have observed the tristability of large-amplitude regular or chaotic motions, periodic pulsations, and the stationary state for the parameters where no instability of the stationary solution exists at all over the complete range of the external field. The problem of how to find the various attractors and how to reveal chaotic motions by adjusting the control parameters is discussed according to the numerical results.
We consider a new class of bifurcations that may arise in multiphoton processes inside a coherently driven optical cavity involving more than one mode of the radiation field. For a non-saturable, non-linear medium, a single bifurcation point exists where the symmetric solution bifurcates into a number of non-symmetric solutions. The nature of the bifurcation ranges from a simple pitchfork bifurcation, in the case of four-wave mixing, to more complicated phenomena in higher-order processes. A saturable non-linear medium exhibits similar behaviour for low-input intensities; however, as the input intensity is increased the medium saturates, and at a second bifurcation point the symmetric branch regains its stability. The presence of fluctuations assures the accessibility of the symmetric branch. Thus, for example, for a two-photon absorbing medium we have the possibility of optical tristability involving one symmetric solution and two non-symmetric solutions.
We study the semiclassical equations for a laser with a saturable absorber in the mean-field limit, assuming homogeneously broadened two-level atoms, for a set of parameters where the system displays optical bistability and time-periodic solutions. In the first part the bifurcation diagram for stationary and periodic solutions is obtained by numerical integration. Two different classes of stable periodic solutions arise: small-amplitude solutions and passive QQQ switching. We observe hysteresis domains involving up to three solutions (stationary and/or periodic). We also discuss the validity of some standard approximations and show that even in the absence of detuning the phases play an important role. We also discuss the influence of the initial conditions whose symmetry properties induce important modifications of the bifurcation diagram. In the second part we introduce an alternative adiabatic elimination scheme which allows us to construct the small-amplitude periodic solutions over nearly their whole range of existence. We then study these solutions near the Hopf bifurcation from which they emerge and derive analytic conditions for their stability. When they are stable, $\stackrel{\mathrm{\ifmmode\acute\else\textasciiacute\fi{}}}{\mathrm{w}}$e also give the conditions under which a secondary Hopf bifurcation will occur, leading to quasiperiodic solutions.
The phase-conjugate reflectivity produced by degenerate four-wave mixing in a Kerr medium in the Bragg scattering regime is shown to be unstable when the intensity of the external pump beams is greater than a threshold value that can be predicted analytically. Below this threshold, a single branch of the reflectivity curve is stable, eliminating any possibility for bistability. A numerical simulation indicates that the unstable regime is characterized by fast oscillations with a period related to the transit time in the nonlinear medium. A finite relaxation time of the nonlinearity eliminates the high-frequency oscillations but can increase the amplitude of the low-frequency components. The insertion of a phase-conjugate mirror into an optical cavity leads to an instability whose threshold can be evaluated analytically. The temporal evolution of the field intensity in the cavity is shown to change from a stable regime to periodic oscillations and then to quasi-periodic oscillations as the pump intensity is increased.
Degenerate as well as nondegenerate three-level two-photon laser (TPL) models are derived. In the limit of equal cavity losses for both fields, it is shown that the nondegenerate model reduces to the degenerate one. We also demonstrate the isomorphism existing between our degenerate TPL model and that of a dressed-state TPL. All these models contain ac-Stark and population-induced shifts at difference from effective Hamiltonian models. The influence of the parameters that control these shifts on the nonlinear dynamics of a TPL is investigated. In particular, the stability of the periodic orbits that arise at the Hopf bifurcation of the system and the extension of the self-pulsing domains of the system are studied, revealing the role played by the detuning and ac-Stark parameters.