Analytic instability thresholds in folded Kerr resonators of arbitrary finesse

Abstract

We present analytic threshold formulae applicable to both dispersive (time-domain) and diffractive (pattern-forming) instabilities in Fabry-Perot Kerr cavities of arbitrary finesse. We do so by extending the gain-circle technique, recently developed for counter-propagating fields in single-mirror-feedback systems, to allow for an input mirror. In time-domain counter-propagating systems walk-off effects are known to suppress cross-phase modulation contributions to dispersive instabilities. Applying the gain-circle approach with appropriately-adjusted cross-phase couplings extends previous results to arbitrary finesse, beyond mean-field approximations, and describes Ikeda instabilities.