Abstract

During the past years, theoretical¹ and experimental² studies have shown that the sweeping gains or losses affect the position of the bifurcation point in parameter space by stabilizing dynamically an unstable solution. This process leads to a delayed bifurcation and specific scale laws for the delay time as a function of the sweep rate.² The systems analyzed previously were lasers for which the adiabatic elimination of the atomic variables holds. Arecchi et al.³ found similar results where the gain was swept across threshold, even if population inversion played a significant role on the dynamic behavior of the laser. Here we show that significant changes occur in sweeping the cavity losses. At low sweep rates, the laser turns on at values of the cavity losses higher than those corresponding to threshold (anticipation). Increasing the sweep rate leads to a delayed bifurcation. We also show that the high of the first laser peak depends on the anticipation or delay time. We also measure the scaling laws for both processes. Statistical analysis shows anomalous peaks on the intensity fluctuations around both the turn-on of the laser.

© 1991 Optical Society of America