Interaction of two modulational instabilities in a semiconductor resonator

Abstract

The interaction of two neighboring modulational instabilities in a coherently driven semiconductor cavity is investigated. First, an asymptotic reduction of the general equations is performed in the limit of a nearly vertical input-output characteristic. Next, a normal form is derived in the limit where the two instabilities are close to one other. An infinity of branches of periodic solutions are found to emerge from the unstable portion of the homogeneous branch. These branches have a nontrivial envelope in the bifurcation diagram that can either smoothly join the two instability points or form an isolated branch of solutions.