Many laser systems show self-pulsations with a large amplitude that are born suddenly in a homoclinic bifurcation. Just before the onset of these self-pulsations the laser is excitable where the excitability threshold is formed by the stable manifold of a saddle point. We show that there exists a special configuration, a codimension-two bifurcation called a non-central saddle-node homoclinic orbit, that acts as an organizing center of excitability in lasers. It is the key to understanding excitability in laser systems as diverse as lasers with saturable absorbers, lasers with optical injection and lasers with optical feedback.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 2002 |
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Additional information: Preprint of a paper later published by Elsevier Science (2003), Optics Communications, 215 (4-6), pp.367-379, ISSN 0030-4018