Driven Nonlinear Interferometers

Abstract

Coherent radiation in an interferometer is characterized by the spatial distributions of the amplitude and phase of the field; additional degrees of freedom are connected with the state of radiation polarization and the existence of counterpropagating beams. Diffraction and scattering of radiation cause transverse redistribution of the field. The specific time scales are the time of light round-trip in the interferometer and the field relaxation time in the interferometer. The medium inside the interferometer has frequency dispersion, nonlinearity of different kinds with several specific times of relaxation that differ essentially by magnitude; diffusion processes in the medium also lead to transverse redistribution of the fields. Additional linear optical elements (amplitude and phase transparencies, spatial filters, etc.) can be present inside the interferometer. All these factors predetermine extreme variety of nonlinear optical phenomena and of spatio-temporal structures in such systems.