Abstract

Pioneered by Moloney and collaborators [1], transverse effects of nonlinear passive systems in a ring cavity have been the object of extensive study. Analytical investigations with diffractive coupling in one transverse dimension have demonstrated [1] that static and dynamic transverse structures occur in this system. Extension of the mean-field dispersive model developed from optical bistability to include diffraction [2] independently demonstrated qualitatively similar features, again in one transverse dimension. Investigations in two transverse dimensions have been largely confined to numerical studies by the Moloney group [1], showing for gaussian beam illumination ring structures which develop through azimuthal instability to a pattern of spots which typically execute a slow chaotic motion with a progressive loss of symmetries.

© 1992 Optical Society of America