Abstract
Hexagonal structures have recently been experimentally observed in cavityless counterpropagating beam configurations.1 Here we report investigations into the nature, stability, and range of hexagonal patterns in such systems. Models investigated include an antireflected slab of Kerr medium, irradiated from each side by smooth constant input beams.2 A feedback mirror behind a thin Kerr slice also gives hexagons, leading on at high input intensities to optical turbulence.3 We also show that similar structures emerge in ring-cavity models. Transverse effects in nonlinear ring-cavity systems have been extensively analyzed from 1982 by Moloney and coworkers4 Analytical investigations with diffractive coupling in one transverse dimension have demonstrated that static and dynamic transverse structures occur in this system. Extension of the mean-field model developed from optical bistability to include diffraction5 independently demonstrated qualitatively similar features, again in one transverse dimension. Here we present a combination of analytical and numerical evidence that hexagonal structures are natural in this system also (Fig. 1).
© 1992 Optical Society of America
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