Symmetry breaking, dynamical pulsations, and turbulence in the transverse intensity patterns of a laser: The role played by defects (Q1312573)

This paper is concerned with turbulence effects that appear in the transverse intensity patterns of a laser. Pulsations are observed which spontaneously break the cylindrical symmetry of a laser cavity geometry; simultaneously, topological defects appear in the transverse intensity patterns and a progression occurs from periodic and quasi-periodic behavior to chaos and turbulence. The authors approach these phenomena by studying the Maxwell-Bloch equations for the transverse pattern of a single longitudinal mode laser with spherical mirrors and cylindrically symmetric boundary conditions. By numerically integrating the Maxwell-Bloch equations, the authors establish that the motion of the defects appears as travelling waves in the angular direction. This motion reduces the correlation of the intensity fluctuations at spatially separated points. Patterns with one defect are periodic. With two defects, they are quasi-periodic. When the patterns are complex and involve many moving defects, the system loses both temporal and spatial correlation as the defects become quite localized. Excitation of a sufficient number of higher order radial and angular modes is found to be key to independent motion of the defects.