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Bistability of the transverse configuration of the optical field is found for a helium–neon laser oscillating in the TEM01* hybrid optical-resonator mode. Optically induced switching between the mirror-symmetric field patterns occurs when a fraction of the spatially rotated output field is reinjected into the laser resonator. These phenomena are described theoretically with laser equations modeling the mutual interaction of the two first-order transverse modes of the optical resonator. The experimentally observed bistability and switching of the field patterns is in full qualitative agreement with the theoretical results.
Tamm et al. (Fri,) studied this question.