NONLINEAR DYNAMICS OF SOLID-STATE RING LASERS

The nonlinear dynamics of a solid-state ring laser (SSRL) is studied t heoretically and experimentally. We have identified the parametric mec hanism for the excitation of the relaxation oscillations in an autonom ous SSRL operating in the self-modulation regime of the first kind. Th e nonlinear shifts of the frequencies of the relaxation and self-modul ation oscillations and their mutual synchronization in zones of parame tric resonance are investigated. It is shown that in these regions the following bifurcations can occur: doubling of a period of the self-mo dulation oscillations and the appearance of dynamical chaos. The spect rum oi the Lyapunov exponents and the information dimension of the str ange attractor have been found. It is shown that using a semiclassical model of SSRL one can explain all experimentally observed features of the nonlinear dynamics of the ring laser under consideration.