Characterizing Chaotic Attractors Underlying Single Mode Laser Emission by Quantitative Laser Field Phase Measurement

We have carried out experiments on single-mode laser-pumped gas lasers to show that dynamics of single mode autonomous lasers is at least in this class of lasers not an exception but rather the rule. Lasers emitting from the far infrared to the visible on rotational1, vibrational2 and electronic3 transitions have shown periodic and chaotic single-mode dynamics.