title: Phase instability in semiconductor lasers.
abstract: For many years, the apparent absence of a phase instability has characterized lasers as peculiar nonlinear oscillators. We show that this unusual feature is solely due to the approximations used in writing the standard models. A new, careful derivation of the fundamental equations, based on codimension 2 bifurcation theory, shows the possible existence of dynamical regimes displaying either a pure phase instability, or mixed phase-amplitude turbulence. A comparison to existing experimental results convincingly shows that the Benjamin-Feir instability, common to all nonlinear wave problems, is a fundamental, satisfactory interpretation for their deterministic multimode dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Institut Non-Linéaire de Nice, UMR 7335, F-06560, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.affiliation: Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Institut Non-Linéaire de Nice, UMR 7335, F-06560, France.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Lippi