AVERAGE INTENSITY AND BIFURCATIONS IN A PULSED-LASER

The dynamics of a CO2 laser with SF6 gas in an intracavity cell was st udied by detection of the output pulse intensity average as a function of the laser cavity tuning. The derivative of this: average power wit h respect to the control parameter shows the bifurcations, associated with periodic and chaotic regimes, previously identified in these lase rs. The technique can be relevant to study the dynamics in high pulse rate lasers and other nonlinear systems where the average of a specifi c variable has a significant effect.