Homoclinic orbits and chaos in the vibronic short-cavity standing-wave alexandrite laser

We present an experimental and a theoretical investigation of the unstable behavior of the laser-pumped short-cavity alexandrite laser. its chaotic dy namics is achieved by an increase of the pump laser power. The route to cha os depends on the cavity length and the pump wavelength. The experimental r esults are explained by the theoretical model, which includes the host-latt ice phonons' dynamics in the standard laser equations. We conclude that the observed laser instabilities are due to the competition between the laser field and phonons in the host crystal. A Linear-stability analysis yields t he conclusion that the observed chaos has a homoclinic character. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(00)00502-6].