Phys.org  August 18, 2018 The instabilities in the laser are caused by optical filaments, light structures that move randomly and change with time, causing chaos. An international team of researchers (USA – Yale University, UK, Singapore) designed a D-shaped cavity for the laser to induce quantum chaos in the light bouncing around. By creating quantum (wave) chaos in the cavity the laser itself remained steady. The quantum chaos acts on a smaller scale than the wavelength of the light, creating the optical ‘hills’ that help to dispel the optical ‘tornadoes’. They gained insight into the processes and cavity shapes likely […]