CHARACTERIZATION OF LOCALIZED TRANSVERSE STRUCTURES IN WIDE-APERTURE LASERS

The problem of characterization of spatio-temporal patterns is discuss ed for the case of wide-aperture lasers with nonlinear losses where va riety of such patterns is especially rich. Laser autosolitons (LASs) - localized transverse structures representing ''islands of lasing'' on a background of the nonlasing mode on the laser aperture - are studie d. Existence of stable single LASs which are motionless or moving in t he transverse direction with constant linear velocity is shown. Descri bed are also LASs with regular wavefronts, those with screw dislocatio ns (defects) of wavefronts with different topological indices, and tho se with axially symmetric and asymmetric intensity distributions rotat ing with constant angular velocity around the LAS center. An approach is given for qualitative and quantitative characterization of a single LAS by its linear and angular velocities and frequency shift, based o n a combination of analytical methods and computer simulations. Result s of investigations of weak and strong interactions among the LASs are presented.