THE DYNAMICS OF OPTICAL-SYSTEMS - A RENAISSANCE OF THE 1990S

Why do some lasers produce noise-like intensity spikes, and what is th e optimum implementation of an optical switch? Such questions have mot ivated researchers over the last three decades to uncover the sources of instability in nonlinear optical systems. Recently, there has been a surge in the number of researchers investigating the dynamics of opt ical systems, because it now seems possible to tackle problems such as optical turbulence and controlling optical chaos that seemed intracta ble a decade ago. I will briefly trace the historical development of o ur understanding of the dynamics of optical systems and highlight some of the recent trends.