DYNAMICS OF LIGHT-PATTERN FORMATION OF POLARIZED LASER-BEAMS PROPAGATING THROUGH SODIUM VAPOR

The interaction of polarized laser beams and sodium vapor can lead to a variety of intensity and polarization patterns owing to optical-pump ing-induced refractive-index variations along and transverse to the be am-propagation direction. While the steady-state behavior has been obs erved and described in the past, the modeling of the dynamics of the p attern formation processes has become possible only recently. We prese nt the first, to our knowledge, three-dimensional simulations of the d ynamics of beam bouncing, beam switching, and beam splitting and the d eflection of a laser beam by the inhomogeneous magnetic field of a cur rent-carrying wire. Numerical algorithms used for the calculations and experimental aspects for future observations are discussed. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.