Super-Narrow Spectral Peaks: New Critical Phenomena in Optically Bistable Systems

Abstract

Fluctuation-induced transitions between coexisting attractors in a periodically driven nonlinear system have been investigated theoretically and with an analogue electronic circuit model. Calculations and measurements of power spectral densities of fluctuations have revealed superimposed twin-peaked partial spectra and a super-narrow spectral peak whose intensity depends critically on the distance from the phase transition.