Chaotic ray dynamics in an optical cavity with a beam splitter.
We investigate the ray dynamics in an optical cavity when a ray-splitting mechanism is present. The cavity is a conventional two-mirror stable resonator, and the ray splitting is achieved by inserting an optical beam splitter perpendicular to the cavity axis. Using Hamiltonian optics, we show that such a simple device presents surprisingly rich chaotic ray dynamics.
Puentes
Graciana
G
Huygens Laboratory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9504, Leiden, The Netherlands. graciana@molphys.leidenuniv.nl
Aiello
Andrea
A
Woerdman
J P
JP