Instability in degenerate two-photon running wave laser

Cun‐Zheng Ning

Shlomo Ovadia, Murray Sargent

Eugenio Roldán, Germán J. de Valcárcel, Ramon A. Vilaseca

Olivier Pfister, William J. Brown, Michael D. Stenner +1 more

We describe the operating characteristics of a new type of quantum oscillator that is based on a two-photon stimulated emission process. This two-photon laser consists of spin-polarized and laser-driven 39K atoms placed in a high-finesse transverse-mode-degenerate optical resonator and produces a beam with a power of approximately 0.2 microW at a wavelength of 770 nm. We observe complex dynamical instabilities of the state of polarization of the two-photon laser, which are made possible by the atomic Zeeman degeneracy. We conjecture that the laser could emit polarization-entangled twin beams if this degeneracy is lifted.

Daniel J. Gauthier, Olivier Pfister, William J. Brown +1 more

Luigi A. Lugiato, M. L. Asquini, Lorenzo M. Narducci

We propose a new scheme for the classification of the optical instabilities that emerge within the framework of the Maxwell-Bloch model. Our scheme is based on an appropriate ex-tension of the notions of amplitude and phase instability advanced in earlier publications and generalized in this work to include the free running laser, optical bistability and the laser with an injected signal. We address our considerations to a unidirectional ring cavity model, in the plane wave approximation and with a homogeneously broadened, two-level active medium.