Generation of fractal structured eigenmodes from lasers

Hend Sroor; Darryl Naidoo; Johannes Courtial; Andrew Forbes

doi:10.1117/12.2291019

22 February 2018 Generation of fractal structured eigenmodes from lasers

Hend Sroor, Darryl Naidoo, Johannes Courtial, Andrew Forbes

Proceedings Volume 10549, Complex Light and Optical Forces XII; 105490B (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2291019
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2018, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Fractals are mathematical series that exhibit replicating patterns at every scale. If the repeated patterns are identical at every scale, the fractal is termed self-similar. Fractals have found their way into applications such as communication and cosmology. Theoretical simulations showed that the eigenmodes of unstable laser resonators possess a fractal character, in contrast with the well-known stable-cavity eigenmodes. Unstable laser resonators have a special plane, called self-conjugate, in which the eigenmodes not only have the same pattern, but are also magnified copies of themselves. Here, we show a novel optical resonator that is capable of generating eigenmodes with self-similar fractal features. Our novel resonator is considered as an analogue to both the monitor-insidemonitor effect and monitor-outside-monitor effects. The fractal feature is proved by finding a typical image of the eigenstate at different scales. More quantitatively, we measured the pattern dimension which had a non-integer value, as is characteristic of self-similar fractals.

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Citation Download Citation

Hend Sroor, Darryl Naidoo, Johannes Courtial, and Andrew Forbes "Generation of fractal structured eigenmodes from lasers", Proc. SPIE 10549, Complex Light and Optical Forces XII, 105490B (22 February 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2291019

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