Interplay of dispersion and absorption in a new optical pattern-forming system

Abstract

We present a new experimental optical pattern-forming system that allows a continuous transition from the purely dispersive to the purely absorptive limiting case. This system is based on a single feedback mirror arrangement with an alkaline vapour and a polarization changing element inside the feedback loop. We present a microscopic model for this system that accounts for both absorption and dispersion and successfully describes the observed phenomena by means of a linear stability analysis.