Abstract

The role of nonlinear coupling between counter-propagating waves in the process of mode superradiance, i.e., collective spontaneous emission in an open Fabry-Perot resonator, is analyzed following the approach of Refs. 1 and 2. The simultaneous spontaneous emission of coherent forward-backward pulses is associated with an instability of normal "hot" modes. By means of this approach, a powerless Bragg back-scattering induced by a self-consistent (λ/2)-lattice of population inversion of two-level medium is established analytically for any-Q resonator.³ In particular, the induced Bragg scattering is too weak to produce a substantial nonlinear self-locking of a superradiance pulse inside an active sample, whatever a resonator will be.

© 1994 IEEE