Optical bistability instabilities: regenerative pulsations, periodic oscillations, and optical chaos

Bistability is associated with a theoretical S-shaped curve of output intensity vs input intensity. The negative-sloped regions of the curve are always stable. However, positive-sloped regions are not always stable as shown by McCall 1 (regenerative pulsations), Bonifacio et al. 2 (self-pulsing), and Ikeda 3 (periodic oscillations and chaos).