Abstract

A saturable absorber inserted into the laser cavity strongly increases the non-linearity of the system, which thus displays enriched transverse dynamics. The nonlinearity may be adjusted by means of an auxiliary CO₂ laser beam that allows the absorber in some specific points to be bleached. Pattern commutation has been obtained in these conditions. A preliminary experimental approach of its behavior is presented here in a weakly multimode regime and, more particularly, in the two-mode case of the doughnut.

© 1994 IEEE