Abstract
We have observed temporal instabilities in the polarizations of counterpropagating laser beams in atomic sodium vapor. For intensities slightly above the instability threshold, the polarizations fluctuate periodically. For higher intensities, the fluctuations are chaotic and the system evolves on a strange attractor whose fractal dimension increases with increasing laser intensity.
- Received 16 June 1988
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.1827
©1988 American Physical Society