Pattern formation in a passive Kerr cavity Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, Volume 4, p. 1323, 1994. Pattern formation in a passive Kerr cavity A. J. Scroggie, W. J. Firth, G. S. McDonald, M. Tlidi, R. Lefever, and L. A. Lugiato Analytic and numerical investigations of a cavity containing a Kerr medium are reported. The mean field equation with plane-wave excitation and diffraction is assumed.
Stable hexagons are dominent close to threshold for a self-focussing medium.
Bistable switching frustrates pattern formation for a self-defocusing medium. Further above threshold, the hexagons show defects, and then break up with apparent turbulence. For a Gaussian excitation, the different symmetry leads to polygon formation narrow beams, but quasihexagonal structures appear for broader beams.