Excitable wave patterns in a spatially extended nonlinear optical cavity

We show that finite external excitation can lead to a traveling wave in an excitable passive optical system with one-dimensional space geometry. We have studied the excitable behavior of this system in parallel with that of its diffusive counterpart and show the effects of optical phase on the trave...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 1999-05, Vol.24 (9), p.578-580
Main Authors: Lu, W, Yu, D, Harrison, R G
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We show that finite external excitation can lead to a traveling wave in an excitable passive optical system with one-dimensional space geometry. We have studied the excitable behavior of this system in parallel with that of its diffusive counterpart and show the effects of optical phase on the traveling-wave solution and its velocity. In two-dimensional space we observe numerically rotating optical spiral waves evolving from a truncated planar wave front.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.24.000578