IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v402y1999i6758d10.1038_45960.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fractal modes in unstable resonators

Author

Listed:
  • G. P. Karman

    (Leiden University
    Philips Research Laboratories)

  • G. S. McDonald

    (Leiden University
    Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College)

  • G. H. C. New

    (Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College)

  • J. P. Woerdman

    (Leiden University)

Abstract

One of the simplest optical systems, consisting of two mirrors facing each other to form a resonator, turns out to have a surprising property. Stable resonators, in which the paths of the rays are confined between the two mirrors, have a well known mode structure (hermite–gaussian), but the nature of the modes that can occur in unstable reson-ant cavities (from which the rays ultimately escape) are harder to calculate, particularly for real three-dimensional situations1. Here we show that these peculiar eigenmodes of unstable resonators are fractals, a finding that may lead to a better understanding of phenomena such as chaotic scattering and pattern formation. Our discovery may have practical application to lasers based on unstable resonators1.

Suggested Citation

  • G. P. Karman & G. S. McDonald & G. H. C. New & J. P. Woerdman, 1999. "Fractal modes in unstable resonators," Nature, Nature, vol. 402(6758), pages 138-138, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:402:y:1999:i:6758:d:10.1038_45960
    DOI: 10.1038/45960
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/45960
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/45960?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:402:y:1999:i:6758:d:10.1038_45960. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.