Abstract

Since the very early days of laser theory, it is well known that optical systems are able to display instabilities which lead to self-oscillatory or self-pulsing behaviour (1). All investigations of this problem have focused separately on what can be conveniently identified as single or multimode instabilities. Instabilities of the first type involve only the cavity mode that lies nearest to the atomic transition, or the carrier frequency of an incident field, for externally driven systems; these phenomena can be analyzed in the context of a single-mode model. The second type involves the growth of out-of-resonance cavity modes, and therefore requires a multi-mode treatment for a correct description.

© 1985 Optical Society of America