Spatiotemporal dynamics of a unidirectional quasi-confocal ring resonator with an intracavity drift-type photorefractive crystal

Abstract

The spatial as well as the temporal (spatiotemporal) dynamics of nonlinear optical systems (for example, lasers, photorefractive crystal oscillators) received significant interest lately. One of the reasons is that their behavior exhibits some similarities with that of turbulent systems. Photorefractive crystal oscillators (PRO), in particular, are specially significant since their response time is almost the same as that of ocular sensitivity making the signal detection relatively simple and easy. PROs have intracavity photorefractive crystals. Photorefractive crystals can be grouped into two, depending on the need for an applied external bias. The drift-type crystal, where bismuth silicon oxide (BSO) belongs, requires the application of an external bias voltage typically in the kilovolt range. Meanwhile, the diffusion-type crystal does not need a bias voltage. Examples of this type are the barium titanate (BaTiO₃) and lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) crystals with response times anywhere between seconds to minutes.
This paper presents a new model depicting a two-mode pattern dynamics of a unidirectional ring resonator with an intracavity BSO crystal. The modes considered are the TEM₀₀ and the TEM₀₂ modes. Numerical experiments are performed to establish the behavior of the system for different set of parameters.