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Physical Review A

Polarization stability and dynamics in a model for a polarization-isotropic laser that goes beyond third-order Lamb theory

N. B. Abraham, Mark D. Matlin, R. S. Gioggia

Published May 1, 1996• 44 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Instabilities and dynamical pulsations are common features of solutions of a model that includes the material variable dynamics for a laser with a polarization isotropic resonator and with a homogeneously broadened j=1\ensuremath{\rightarrow}j=0 transition. These resemble in some respects features found in third-order Lamb theories under anisotropic conditions, such as splitting of the optical field into two relatively independent orthogonally polarized modes with different optical frequencies. At higher intensities the amplitudes and frequencies of these modes exhibit such strong coupling that a ``two-mode'' description loses its usefulness or effectiveness. Various periodic attractors with strong intensity and polarization pulsations are found for moderate excitation levels. Some of these attractors preserve the breaking of the polarization isotropy on average just as does any linearly polarized solution. But in some cases the dynamics restore the polarization isotropy on average. We also find other dynamical phenomena, including periodic and apparently chaotic states, often involving rapid switching between long interludes of nearly constant polarization, and homoclinic behavior. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.53.3514

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Instabilities and dynamical pulsations are common features of solutions of a model that includes the material variable dynamics for a laser with a polarization isotropic resonator and with a homogeneously broadened j=1\ensuremath{\rightarrow}j=0 transition. These resemble in some respects features found in third-order Lamb theories under anisotropic conditions, such as splitting of the optical field into two relatively independent orthogonally polarized modes with different optical frequencies. At higher intensities the amplitudes and frequencies of these modes exhibit such strong coupling that a ``two-mode'' description loses its usefulness or effectiveness. Various periodic attractors with strong intensity and polarization pulsations are found for moderate excitation levels. Some of these attractors preserve the breaking of the polarization isotropy on average just as does any linearly polarized solution. But in some cases the dynamics restore the polarization isotropy on average. We also find other dynamical phenomena, including periodic and apparently chaotic states, often involving rapid switching between long interludes of nearly constant polarization, and homoclinic behavior. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
We study theoretically the dynamic behavior of a J′=1→J″=0 laser (J is the angular momentum quantum number) optically pumped by means of a linearly polarized coherent field (coupled to an adjacent transition J=0→J′=1) when the pump field polarization is rotated at a constant angular velocity Ω and the laser field polarization either is fixed by the cavity or is free (isotropic cavity). Because of a strong pump-induced gain anisotropy, the dynamic behavior is completely different in each case. In the case of fixed laser field polarization, rich amplitude dynamics, which depend on the pump field strength, are found. At slow modulation frequencies (with respect to the molecular and the cavity relaxation rates), the system does not always follow the sequence of stationary and dynamic solutions that correspond to the autonomous laser as a function of the relative orientation angle between the polarizations of the pump and the laser fields. Phenomena such as delayed switching and suppression of chaos and stabilization of unstable steady states are found. In the case of an isotropic cavity, the pump field vector rotation is transferred to the laser field vector and amplitude unstable regimes are also strongly inhibited.
We provide a comprehensive analysis of the standard model of the bidirectional ring laser in which only one mode can be supported in each direction and in the limit that the polarization can be eliminated adiabatically. The interaction between the two counterpropagating modes can be derived and it is most naturally viewed as a coupling between them via scattering from a spatial grating formed in the population inversion. If the grating is a sufficiently small modulation of the spatial average of the population inversion, it can be approximated by a sinusoidal function. A systematic derivation of the model with only a sinusoidal grating for the homogeneously broadened case is presented that reveals and corrects errors in several previously published analyses. The stability of the steady-state solution is analyzed. The bidirectional steady-state solution is unstable and the unidirectional steady-state solutions may be stable or unstable depending on the parameters. The well-established result of bistability between the two modes when the cavity is tuned to resonance is recovered, a result that persists, in part, even when the losses between the two modes are different.With detuning, the unidirectional steady-state solutions can be destabilized, creating regions in the parameter space where only time-dependent solutions are found. For parameters characteristic of solid-state or molecular gas lasers, the instability can occur for very small detunings and even very close to the lasing threshold. Asymptotic limits of the instability boundaries for these parameters are presented. Additional results are derived formally for inhomogeneous broadening with a Lorentzian line shape and for arbitrary inhomogeneous linewidths. Explicit analytic results are presented in the limits of very small and very large inhomogeneous linewidths compared with the homogeneous linewidth. Time-dependent solutions in the homogeneously broadened case for relaxation rates appropriate to CO2{\mathrm{CO}}_{2}CO2​ lasers show that there are broad regions in the parameter space of gain and detuning for which the behavior is dynamically chaotic in the form of nearly ``square-wave'' alternation between the counterpropagating modes of the laser with irregular switching times. In other regions of that parameter space we find more irregular pulsations and pulse alternations. Regions of periodic pulsations also have been found.
We have carried out a series of numerical experiments on the dynamic behavior of J=0 yields J=1 yields J=0 lasers optically pumped by a linearly polarized laser field and operating either: (1) with a strongly anisotropic cavity yielding fixed linear laser field polarization at any angle (theta) with that of the pump beam, or (2) with an isotropic cavity and an axial magnetic field. In the first case (1) we show that by changing (theta) the steady-states experience a smooth monotonic variation, but the dynamic states undergo a complex sequence of bifurcations. In case (2) we find that the laser field is always linearly polarized, but for some parameter settings we report the first observation that the plane of polarization together with the laser intensity change chaotically.
We have theoretically explored the behavior of a coherently pumped ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}=\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{1}J=\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{0}{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=1$ isotropic cavity laser and compared it with the behavior of other related laser systems involving atomic or molecular levels with angular quantum numbers 000 and 1.1.1. It is shown that at low and moderate pumping strengths it behaves very differently from the ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}=\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{0}J=\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{1}{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0$ laser exhibiting no pump-induced gain anisotropy and allowing for linearly polarized (LP) solutions with arbitrary azimuth and circularly polarized (CP) solutions, depending on the values of the molecular relaxation rates. Above the instability threshold, a variety of dynamic regimes involving the polarization degree of freedom can be found, including LP states with rotating azimuth (as in incoherently pumped $J=\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{0}{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=1$ or $J=\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{1}{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0$ lasers), antiphase dynamics, and full polarization chaos.
This chapter concludes the discussion about temporal instabilities and self-oscillations, considering the instabilities that arise in the systems analyzed in Chapter 13, with the exception of optical bistability, which has been discussed separately in Chapter 11. Section 25.1 focuses on the laser with an injected signal. As already mentioned in Section 13.1, in this system self-pulsing instabilities are rather ubiquitous, and on exploring the parameter space one meets an extremely rich variety of oscillatory behaviors. For example, under extremely high-gain conditions, breathing, spiking and chaos have been identified over various ranges of the driving field strength [294]. In this section we show some results that arise under parametric conditions that are more accessible experimentally. We illustrate especially the coexistence, for the same parametric values, of different oscillatory behaviors that are reached by starting from different initial conditions. On the other hand, Section 25.2 deals with a laser with a saturable absorber. In this system even the full scenario of stationary intensity solutions in the single-mode model is very complex. For the sake of simplicity, in this section we focus on a simpler rate-equation model that is obtained from the single-mode model of Eqs. (13.13)–(13.17) by adiabatically eliminating the atomic polarization of both active and passive medium. As in Chapter 13, we assume that the atomic transition frequencies are equal and also coincide with a cavity frequency. In this way all the variables in the model can be assumed real, and the linearization around the stationary solution described in Section 13.2 leads to a cubic eigenvalue equation. The spontaneous oscillations which arise from this instability are called repetitive passive Q-switching in the literature. Section 25.3 considers the stability of the stationary solutions of the degenerate optical parametric oscillator described in Section 13.4 and outlines the scenario of period doubling and chaos that arises under appropriate parametric conditions.
A theoretical treatment is given of the dynamical and steady-state behavior of an anisotropic laser. The model is based on a homogeneously broadened, pumped J=1/2\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}J=1/2 atomic transition, and is solved to all orders of the electric field, in contrast to previous studies of anisotropic lasers. A survey of the system behavior is presented, and complementary analytic descriptions developed to describe the small- and large-field evolutions are given. The small-field polarization behavior is shown to be oscillatory in general, and dominated by the properties of the cavity. The large-field description allows the polarization stability of the final output states to be analyzed, and shows that stable steady states in this regime must be linearly polarized along either one or the other of the two anisotropy axes. The possible range of cavity lengths which allows bistable output between these two polarizations is characterized analytically, and a regime identified where the polarization undergoes sustained oscillation.