EXPERIMENTAL SUPPRESSION OF CHAOS IN A MODULATED MULTIMODE LASER

Suppressing chaotic behavior by addition of a weak second periodic per turbation signal, which is nearly resonant to a subharmonic of the fun damental system frequency, is observed in a modulated microchip LiNdP4 O12 multimode laser by a highly sensitive self-mixing modulation techn ique. The stabilization of the unstable period-2 orbit embedded in a c haotic attractor is demonstrated in a wide parameter region. The chaos -suppressing experiments are well reproduced by simulations of globall y coupled modulated Tang-Statz-deMars [J. Appl. Phys. 34, 8289 (1963)] multimode laser equations, including a spatial hole-burning effect. ( C) 1997 Optical Society of America.