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We consider a basic rate-equation model for the gains and intensities of two identical lasers that are mutually coupled via fast saturable absorbers. A numerical bifurcation study with the software package AUTO reveals the prevalence of multistability between different types of stable solutions of the system, including stationary states and in-phase, anti-phase and intermediate-phase oscillations.

We consider a basic rate-equation model for the gains and intensities of two identical lasers that are mutually coupled via fast saturable absorbers. A numerical bifurcation study with the software package AUTO reveals the prevalence of multistability between different types of stable solutions of the system, including stationary states and in-phase, anti-phase and intermediate-phase oscillations.

We demonstrate a method for tracking the onset of oscillations (Hopf bifurcation) in nonlinear dynamical systems. Our method does not require a mathematical model of the dynamical system but instead relies on feedback controllability. This makes the approach potentially applicable in an experiment. The main advantage of our method is that it allows one to vary parameters directly along the stability boundary. In other words, there is no need to observe the transient oscillations of the dynamical system for a long time to determine their decay or growth. Moreover, the procedure automatically tracks the change of the critical frequency along the boundary and is able to continue the Hopf bifurcation curve into parameter regions where other modes are unstable.We illustrate the basic ideas with a numerical realization of the classical autonomous dry friction oscillator.