title: Dispersion-related multimode instabilities and self-sustained oscillations in nonlinear counterpropagating waves.
abstract: We show that two linearly polarized counterpropagating waves in a Kerr nonlinear medium with linear dispersion can exhibit multimode temporal instability. We find the boundary of the unstable regime and demonstrate that the fully developed instability results in self-sustained oscillations and the onset of chaos.
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Law
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Kaplan