Abstract

In OB, if a control parameter is modified by a step-function so to reach a different transmission branch, the monitored output power reaches the new equilibrium value with a delay time τ. Owing to the intrinsic fluctuations or the noise in the apparatus the delay time does not have a constant value, but presents a distribution around the mean value <τ>. The distribution of the switching delay times has been measured in two OB experiments, involving, respectively, an infrared CO₂ laser with intracavity saturable absorber and the microwave absorption of ammonia gas within a Fabry-Perot cavity.

© 1985 Optical Society of America