Intermittency and chaos in intracavity doubled lasers. II

Abstract

We describe the nonlinear dynamics of intracavity doubled multimode lasers. Baer [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 3, 1175 (1986)] observed irregular amplitude fluctuations in a multimode yttrium aluminum garnet laser with an intracavity potassium titanyl phosphate frequency-doubling crystal; we identify type-III intermittency as the route to chaos. Subsequently, Oka and Kubota [Opt. Lett. 13, 805 (1988)] demonstrated the stabilization of such a laser by the introduction of a quarter wave plate into the cavity. A generalized model of rate equations for this case is introduced. It is shown that a second route to chaos through a Hopf bifurcation, synchronization, and period-doubling sequence occurs on rotation of the quarter wave plate within the cavity. In addition, we predict that the laser output may be stable for particular lengths of the doubling crystal.