Abstract

It has been shown both theoretically and experimentally that a laser with a saturable absorber (LSA) may exhibit various types of chaotic behavior. Theoretical investigations of such behavior in LSA with CO₂ amplifying medium has been carried out on the basis of three level : two level rate equation model [1]. In order to improve the agreement between the model and experimental observations the extension of the model including the polarization of molecular absorber has been proposed in Ref.[2]. It has been shown in [2] that a new types of chaotic regimes arise due to the time lag between the polarization and field. Here we show that these chaotic regimes are associated with a codimension- four bifurcation point. We present the detailed investigation of the bifurcation sequences leading to chaotic operations in the vicinity of this point in the case of detuned LSA.

© 1992 Optical Society of America