HIGHLY DISSIPATIVE HENON MAP BEHAVIOR IN THE 4-LEVEL MODEL OF THE CO2-LASER WITH MODULATED LOSSES

We show that the four-level model for the CO2 laser with modulated los ses behaves in a qualitatively similar way as the highly dissipative H enon map. The ubiquity of elements of the universal sequence, their re lated symbolic dynamics, and the presence of reverse bifurcations of c haotic bands in the model are reminiscent of the logistic map which is the limit of the Henon map when the Jacobian equals zero, The coexist ence of attractors, its dynamics related to contraction of volumes in phase space and the associated return maps can be correlated with thos e of the highly dissipative Henon map.