Pulsating and rotating spirals in a delayed feedback diffractive nonlinear optical system

Abstract

We study spiral waves in a mathematical model of a nonlinear optical system with a feedback loop. Starting from a delayed scalar diffusion equation in a thin annulus with oblique derivative boundary conditions, we shrink the annulus and derive the limiting equation on a circle. Based on the explicitly constructed normal form of the Hopf bifurcation for the one-dimensional delayed scalar diffusion equation, we make predictions about the existence and stability of two-dimensional spirals that we verify in direct numerical simulations, observing pulsating and rotating spiral waves.