Second-order optical phase transition in a semilinear photorefractive oscillator with two counterpropagating pump waves

摘要

Soft-mode onset of coherent oscillation is revealed in a semilinear cavity with two counterpropagating pump waves. From the dynamics of the oscillation intensity and the dynamics of the grating decay with the feedback applied, critical behavior is detected: Both the characteristic time of oscillation onset and grating decay time go to infinity exactly at the threshold coupling strength. A conclusion is made about the similarity of this type of oscillator to the second-order phase transition. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America. [References: 33]