Multistable fiber-optic Michelson interferometer with electrooptic feedback exhibiting 95 stable states

The multistable behavior of a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer with electrooptic feedback using a piezoelectric phase modulator is investigated. A linear stability analysis of the third-order differential equation used to describe the system reveals the number of stable states increases with the ratio tau /T of the system time constant ( tau ) and the feedback delay time (T). In laboratory investigations 95 stable states were achieved with tau /T>50.<
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