Bistability and transients in CO2 laser patterns

Abstract

We present experimental results on the selection of transverse patterns and their dynamics in a CO2 laser with an intracavity grating. Depending on the parameter values, we observe different single-frequency patterns with possible bistability between them. Turning on the laser within the bistable region yields a switch-on to a metastable pattern, which eventually decays into the other stable pattern. In the bistable region, noise appears to play an important role in the pattern dynamics over long time scales.