LORENZ-LIKE CHAOS IN NH3-FIR LASERS

Studies of digitized recordings of periodic and chaotic intensity puls ations of an unidirectional far-infrared NH3 ring laser at 81.5 mu m r eveal common features (pulsing patterns, dimensions, entropies, and de cay rates of the autocorrelation functions) to data sets numerically c alculated from the Lorenz equations. The correspondence is striking. N evertheless, there are small deviations of the experimental data to th e numerical data which can, e.g. be explained as relics of counterprop agating waves in the right laser and as influence of coherence effects from the coherently pumped three-level laser molecule.