Science Daily January 30, 2019
A team of researchers (South Africa, UK) has observed a variety of fractal shapes in transverse intensity cross sections through the lowest-loss eigenmodes of unstable canonical laser resonators, thereby demonstrating the controlled generation of fractal light inside a laser cavity. They advance the existing theory of fractal laser modes, first by predicting three-dimensional self-similar fractal structure around the center of the magnified self-conjugate plane and second by showing, quantitatively, that intensity cross sections are most self-similar in the magnified self-conjugate plane. The work offers a significant advance in the understanding of a fundamental symmetry of nature as found in lasers… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
A cross section of a fractal pattern created by a laser in the Wits Structured Light Laboratory. Credit: Wits University