Title :
Spontaneous pattern formation in an absorptive system
Author :
Firth, W.J. ; Scroggie, A.J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Phys. & Appl. Phys., Glasgow Univ., UK
Abstract :
We present analytical and numerical results indicating pattern formation in a purely absorptive medium, namely a resonantly-excited two-level system in a ring cavity. Pattern formation occurs when the cavity is mistuned such that the optical wavelength exceeds that of the nearby cavity mode. But then off-axis or "tilted" waves can exactly fit the cavity, and this determines the dominant transverse wave vector of the pattern
Keywords :
light absorption; nonlinear optics; optical resonators; resonant states; absorptive system; dominant transverse wave vector; nearby cavity mode; nonlinear optics; numerical results; off-axis tilted waves; optical wavelength; pattern formation; purely absorptive medium; resonantly-excited two-level system; ring cavity; spontaneous pattern formation; Geometrical optics; Maxwell equations; Noise figure; Nonlinear optics; Optical pumping; Pattern analysis; Pattern formation; Physics; Resonance; Telephony;
Conference_Titel :
Nonlinear Optics: Materials, Fundamentals, and Applications, 1994. NLO '94 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Waikoloa, HI
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1473-5
DOI :
10.1109/NLO.1994.470855
