Return maps for intensity and time in a homoclinic-chaos model applied to a laser with a saturable absorber.

Abstract

Intensity maps from an experiment on a laser with a saturable absorber, in the case of strong dissipation, are compared with theoretical one-dimensional (1D) maps. These 1D maps are derived in the limit of infinite dissipation, starting from 2D maps for a dissipative saddle cycle with stable and unstable manifolds approaching a quadratic tangency and giving rise to a structurally unstable homoclinic orbit. They are multibranched, each branch corresponding to a particular number of turns around the saddle cycle. The good agreement between theory and experiment indicates that the origin of the complicated behavior of a laser with a saturable absorber is a saddle cycle. A multibranched structure is also present in maps of time of flight between planes in phase space. Depending on the choice of these planes, it is possible to obtain time-of-flight maps that give the same symbolic dynamics of the intensity maps.