Abstract

In addition to their connection with communication networks, fiber lasers provide a rich system for the study of nonlinear dynamics. These lasers are slow in the sense that their relaxation oscillations range in the tens of kilohertz. As a result, we can study in the time domain fluctuations in the output intensity as changes occur in the pump laser. Under the influence of an oscillating pump beam, a neodymium fiber laser shows period doubling bifurcations, quasiperiodicity, chaos, coexisting attractors, and hysteresis [1-3].

© 1996 Optical Society of America