Abstract

The linear stability analysis of the plane wave stationary solution of the dispersive single-feedback mirror device displays a 2τ_R oscillation only if the phases of the stationary forward and backward field amplitudes are 2π shifted, δφ = 2kπ. The condition provides an instability boundary in the space of the atom field detuning and the input intensity, the shape of which agrees with experimental results. The 2τ_R oscillation is the signature of an instability which develops in a phase conjugate resonator, constituted of the atomic cell and a totally reflecting ordinary mirror. Thus, a stationary symmetric profile may undergo a 2τ_R Hopf bifurcation together with a spontaneous breaking of the cylindrical symmetry. The a-c profiles are constituted of spots located on a ring, as observed in the Tucson experiment [G. Giusfredi et al., J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 5, 1181 (1988)]. A mean phase δφp is defined, which results from an average of the grating, weighted with the mode TEM₀, ±p. Therefore the system itself determines the number of spots in order that δφp fulfills the requirement δφ= 2kπ.

© 1989 Optical Society of America