Non-Gaussian statistics and extreme waves in a nonlinear optical cavity

Abstract

A unidirectional optical oscillator is built by using a liquid crystal light-valve that couples a pump beam with the modes of a nearly spherical cavity. For sufficiently high pump intensity, the cavity field presents a complex spatio-temporal dynamics, accompanied by the emission of extreme waves and large deviations from the Gaussian statistics. We identify a mechanism of spatial symmetry breaking, due to a hypercycle-type amplification through the nonlocal coupling of the cavity field.

References in corpus (3)

• Observation of an Inverse Energy Cascade in Developed Acoustic Turbulence in Superfluid Helium
• Harnessing and control of optical rogue waves in supercontinuum generation
• Spatiotemporal pulses in a liquid crystal optical oscillator

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Real-time full bandwidth measurement of spectral noise in supercontinuum generation
• Non-Gaussian Statistics of Multiple Filamentation