Spontaneous spatial fractal pattern formation in dispersive systems

Abstract

We report spontaneous spatial optical fractal patterns in a ring cavity containing a thin slice of diffusive Kerr-type material. The Turing threshold instability condition is derived through linear analysis, and static patterns are found to be described by spectra with multiple-minimum characteristics. These theoretical predictions are subsequently verified through numerical simulations with both one and two transverse dimensions. Our findings support that a proposed fractal-generating criterion for nonlinear wave-based systems with thin-slice host media can have independence with respect to both system geometry and nonlinearity.