title: Multiparameter bifurcations and mixed-mode oscillations in Q-switched CO2 lasers.
abstract: We study the origin of mixed-mode oscillations and related bifurcations in a fully molecular laser model that describes CO2 monomode lasers with a slow saturable absorber. Our study indicates that the presence of isolas of periodic mixed-mode oscillations, as the pump parameter and the cavity-frequency detuning change, is inherent to Q-switched CO2 monomode lasers. We compare this model, known as the dual four-level model, to the more conventional 3:2 model and to a CO2 laser model for fast saturable absorbers. In these models, we find similarities as well as qualitative differences, such as the different nature of the homoclinic tangency to a relevant unstable periodic orbit, where the Gavrilov-Shilnikov theory and its extensions may hold. We also show that there are isolas of periodic mixed-mode oscillations in a model for CO2 lasers with modulated losses, as the pump parameter varies. The coarse-grained bifurcation diagrams of the periodic mixed-mode oscillations in these models suggest that these oscillations belong to similar classes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Concordia University, 1455 Boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3G 1M8.
authors.forename: Eusebius J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Doedel
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Apartado Postal J-48, Puebla 72570, México.
authors.forename: Carlos L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Pando L
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D054020:Lasers, Gas; D054023:Lasers, Semiconductor; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D009991:Oscillometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*