Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Oscillation spectra of semilinear photorefractive coherent oscillator with two pump waves
P. Mathey, Serguey G. Odoulov, Daniel Rytz
Abstract
The transition of the single-frequency oscillation of a semilinear photorefractive coherent oscillator for sufficiently large coupling strengths into two-frequency oscillation is predicted and is observed experimentally. The critical value of coupling strength at which the bifurcation occurs is a function of pump-intensity ratio and cavity losses. For certain combinations of these parameters, the critical coupling strength for spectrum bifurcation becomes smaller than the threshold coupling strength: in these cases double-frequency oscillation appears at the threshold. The supercritical bifurcation in the oscillation spectrum is analogous to the second-order phase transition.