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Physical Review A

Instabilities in passive and active optical systems with a Gaussian transverse intensity profile

L. A. Lugiato, R. J. Horowicz, G. Strini, Lorenzo M. Narducci

Published Sep 1, 1984• 47 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the steady-state and stability properties of bistable optical systems, lasers with an injected signal, and ordinary free-running lasers. The starting point of our study is a unified model of a ring cavity containing a finite-size cylindrical sample of homogeneously broadened two-level atoms, and capable of supporting a single field mode with a Gaussian transverse profile. After solving the equations of motion in the steady state, we carry out a linear stability analysis of the stationary solutions, identify the domains of unstable operation of each of the three systems, and compare in detail the results of this work with those of earlier plane-wave uniform-field calculations. In the case of the laser with an injected signal, we find a significant enhancement of the instability domain relative to the plane-wave limit. A similar conclusion holds for mixed absorptive and dispersive optical bistability, although the enhancement of the domain of instability is less pronounced. Unstable behavior is predicted to occur for experimentally accessible values of the bistability parameter, and to be favored by the absence of bistability and by the selection of atomic and cavity detunings having opposite signs. This configuration ensures that the instability will be responsible for the emergence of undamped output pulsations of the type that will make the bistable system behave as an optical clock.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.30.1366

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Physical Review A•Aug 1, 1991•5 citations
In this paper we analyze the steady-state and stability properties of bistable optical systems, lasers with an injected signal, and ordinary free-running lasers. The starting point of our study is a unified model of a ring cavity containing a finite-size cylindrical sample of homogeneously broadened two-level atoms, and capable of supporting a single field mode with a Gaussian transverse profile. After solving the equations of motion in the steady state, we carry out a linear stability analysis of the stationary solutions, identify the domains of unstable operation of each of the three systems, and compare in detail the results of this work with those of earlier plane-wave uniform-field calculations. In the case of the laser with an injected signal, we find a significant enhancement of the instability domain relative to the plane-wave limit. A similar conclusion holds for mixed absorptive and dispersive optical bistability, although the enhancement of the domain of instability is less pronounced. Unstable behavior is predicted to occur for experimentally accessible values of the bistability parameter, and to be favored by the absence of bistability and by the selection of atomic and cavity detunings having opposite signs. This configuration ensures that the instability will be responsible for the emergence of undamped output pulsations of the type that will make the bistable system behave as an optical clock.
In this paper, the general ring cavity model of passive and active optical systems is presented. In the mean field and the Gaussian one transverse mode approximations, the steady state and stability properties of the systems are analyzed for mixed absorptive and dispersive cases. It is found that when the transmissivity ratio M (equals T1/T2) varies, the bistable loop changes its size and even the systematic behavior varies from the bistability mode into the amplification mode, and the instability domain on the steady state curve varies obviously. The mode-pulling formula and bistable threshold with varying values of M are also discussed.
Beams of homogeneously broadened two-state sodium atoms in a confocal ring resonator have been employed to investigate the steady-state characteristics of absorptive [1] and dispersive optical bistability. Also studied in the same system is the dynamical behavior due to the intrinsic single-longitudinal-mode instability [2] originating in the alteration of the atomic absorption profile by a strong field as in the Lorenz-type instability in the homogeneously broadened laser. All experimental parameters are carefully measured and corrected for transit broadening, finite absorption, and residual Doppler broadening in order to be able to make an absolute comparison with the single-Gaussian-transverse-mode theory [3-6]. Despite the frequency degeneracy of the transverse modes of the resonator, the agreement with this theory for absorptive bistability is remarkably good. The dispersive bistability data are more difficult to interpret, but they seem to be in reasonable agreement with the theory; the same can be said of the results for the domain and oscillation frequency of the instability, at least within a certain region of parameter space. Outside this region, multiple unstable states appear for various intracavity intensities; recent observations suggest that these may be due in part to instabilities involving higher-order transverse modes of the resonator.
We analyze instabilities in mixed absorptive and dispersive optical bistability in the rate-equation approximation and the mean-field and good-cavity limits. Our starting point is a set of multimode equations derived from the Maxwell-Bloch equations for ring-cavity boundary conditions. We obtain analytic expressions for the instability conditions. In a plane-wave analysis, we find that a portion of the lower transmission branch can be unstable in addition to the upper-branch instability found in purely absorptive bistability. Also, a new disconnected region of instability can exist on the upper branch. Our analysis becomes particularly simple for equal and opposite cavity detunings and we explore this case in detail. We extend our treatment to include a Gaussian transverse intensity profile and show that the instabilities remain in the presence of Gaussian averaging. We also show that many of the results obtained in the rate-equation approximation hold when the atomic linewidth and atomic decay rate are of the same order.
Of the Lorenz-type instabilities expected in optical systems, the single-mode instability in optical bistability has been the subject of detailed theoretical and experimental work by our groups. A treatment employing the plane-wave and mean-field limits of the Maxwell-Bloch equations predicts a rich variety of higher-order bifurcations including period doublings and intermittency.1 An extension of this work to include the transverse dependence of the intracavity field reveals no significant qualitative differences between the plane-wave theory and the Gaussian beam theory as regards the stability boundaries obtained from a linearized analysis.2 The instability persists in the presence of a Gaussian transverse profile and the boundaries are not radically modified compared with those obtained from the plane-wave theory. However, numerical integration of the Maxwell-Bloch equations in the single transverse mode approximation does not show the wealth of higher-order dynamic states present in the plane-wave case. An experimental investigation of optical bistability for two-level atoms in a single transverse, single longitudinal mode cavity exhibits limit cycle oscillation with stability boundaries that agree well with the boundaries obtained from the work in Ref. 2. However, for the range of values C < 300, |Δ| < 5, |θ| < 50, X ~ 102, the experimental results do not show the diversity of higher dynamic states expected from the plane-wave theory, in agreement with our numerical results. In addition the measurements support the existence of a single transverse mode oscillation. The sum of our theoretical and experimental work provides a quantitative statement for the role of the transverse effects in optical instabilities.
The steady-state bistability and the evolution of the field envelope of a ring-cavity optical-bistable system including the effect of the transverse radiation field and the effect of an inhomogeneously broadened atomic medium are studied by means of the mean-field approximation and dressed-mode theory in this paper. Our study shows that the bistable region enlarges with an increase of the ratio r0{\mathit{r}}_{0}r0​/w0{\mathit{w}}_{0}w0​ (r0{\mathit{r}}_{0}r0​ is the radius of the cylindrical atomic sample and w0{\mathit{w}}_{0}w0​ the beam waist of the Gaussian beam), and decreases with increasing width of the inhomogeneously broadened line. The transverse-field effect has more impact on the magnitude of the bistable region than the inhomogeneous broadening under certain conditions. In the case of two unstable modes, the evolution of the field envelope before reaching the stable oscillation regime differs remarkably from that in the case of the plane-wave approximation with a homogeneously broadened atomic medium.