Pattern formation in a complex Swift-Hohenberg equation with phase bistability

2016

We study pattern formation in a complex Swift Hohenberg equation with phase-sensitive (parametric) gain. Such an equation serves as a universal order parameter equation describing the onset of spontaneous oscillations in extended systems submitted to a kind of forcing dubbed rocking when the instability is towards long wavelengths. Applications include two-level lasers and photorefractive oscillators. Under rocking, the original continuous phase symmetry of the system is replaced by a discrete one, so that phase bistability emerges. This leads to the spontaneous formation of phase-locked spatial structures like phase domains and dark-ring (phase-) cavity solitons. Stability of the homogeneo…