We show that a laser with conventional optical feedback is symmetric under any rotation of the electric field, whereas a laser with phase-conjugate feedback is symmetric only under the rotations of the electric field over 0 and $\pi$. This has important consequences for dynamics and bifurcations. Most importantly, a PCF laser shows symmetry breaking and restoring bifurcations, something that does not occur in a COF laser.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 1999 |
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Additional information: Preprint of a paper later published by Elsevier Science (2000), Optics Communications, 177(1-6), pp.347-353, ISSN 0030-4018