This chapter focuses on the concept of optical pattern formation. The field of optical pattern formation (OPF) studies the spatial and spatiotemporal phenomena that arise in the structure of electromagnetic field in the planes orthogonal with respect to the direction of propagation. Most theoretical treatments of the interaction between matter and radiation introduce the plane wave approximation—that is, they assume that the electric field is uniform in each transverse plane. However, the field of OPF studies mainly the interaction with nonlinear media, where the phenomena emerge spontaneously as a consequence of an instability; another name that is commonly used to designate OPF is “transverse nonlinear optics.” Historically, the broad interest in OPF emerged as a natural evolution of the previous development of the field of optical instabilities and chaos, when the main attention shifted gradually from purely temporal effects to spatio-temporal phenomena. For both the fields of optical instabilities and OPF, continuous inspiration arose from the formulation of general disciplines as Haken's synergetics or Prigogine's theory of dissipative structures.
Optical pattern formation
LUGIATO, LUIGI;GATTI, ALESSANDRA CARLA
1999-01-01
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the concept of optical pattern formation. The field of optical pattern formation (OPF) studies the spatial and spatiotemporal phenomena that arise in the structure of electromagnetic field in the planes orthogonal with respect to the direction of propagation. Most theoretical treatments of the interaction between matter and radiation introduce the plane wave approximation—that is, they assume that the electric field is uniform in each transverse plane. However, the field of OPF studies mainly the interaction with nonlinear media, where the phenomena emerge spontaneously as a consequence of an instability; another name that is commonly used to designate OPF is “transverse nonlinear optics.” Historically, the broad interest in OPF emerged as a natural evolution of the previous development of the field of optical instabilities and chaos, when the main attention shifted gradually from purely temporal effects to spatio-temporal phenomena. For both the fields of optical instabilities and OPF, continuous inspiration arose from the formulation of general disciplines as Haken's synergetics or Prigogine's theory of dissipative structures.
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