Synchronisation of dynamic chaos in counterpropagating ring-laser waves

Experimental and theoretical investigations were made of dynamic chaos in a solid-state ring laser with periodically modulated pumping. Synchronised dynamic chaos in a bidirectional ring laser was demonstrated for the first time. Regions of existence of strange attractors of two types, synchronised and nonsynchronised, were found in the plane of the system parameters (pump frequency and modulation depth). Competition between these attractors was discovered. The spectra of the Lyapunov exponents and the information dimensionality were calculated for the attractors of both types.