Nonlinear whispering-gallery modes in a microellipse cavity

We study theoretically the effect of deformed microelliptical cavities on lasing characteristics. We show that the transition of stationary lasing states from unidirectional rotational waves to a mixture of clockwise and anticlockwise rotational waves occurs when the shape of a disk is deformed to that of an ellipse. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.