Appearance of stochastic regimes of light pulse reflection by a nonlinear Fabry–Perot interferometer

A theoretical investigation is made of the stability of steady-state reflection of light pulses from an interferometer rilled by a transparent medium with a Kerr nonlinearity. An instability is predicted for steadystate reflections of waves characterized by different amplitudes. Stability is expected only in narrow regions near extrema of a hysteretic dependence of the transmission coefficient on the incident wave amplitude. The results of numerical calculations predict development of stochastic reflection regimes.