Type-III intermittency in a four-level coherently pumped laser

We study a homogeneously broadened four-level model for a coherently pumped laser with pump and laser fields having crossed linear polarizations. For a parameter range of the type explored in the experiments by Tang et al. [Phys. Rev. A 44, R35 (1991)] the system exhibits a family of type-III-intermittency transitions to chaos in which the onset of intermittency is preceded by period-2, period-3, or period-4 states. We find similarities but also differences between the results of our theory and their experimental results. © 1993 The American Physical Society.