Control of chaos in multimode solid state lasers by the use of small periodic perturbations

We present a numerical study of control of chaos in a model of a multimode neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser using periodic perturbations of accessible control parameters. We show that a small modulation of either the losses or the pump can eliminate chaos or make the system even more chaotic. Depending on the parameters of the perturbation, two qualitatively different periodic outputs can be achieved. {} 1996 The American Physical Society.