Optical patterns and cavity solitons in quantum-dot microresonators

We study optical transverse instabilities in quantum-dot (QD) microresonators. We develop a model for the QD susceptibility taking into account the inhomogeneous broadening of the dot emission. A linear stability analysis and numerical integration of the resulting equations are performed. Special attention is paid to the formation of such structures as optical patterns and cavity solitons, which could play an important role in the field of optical information processing. Implications for actual QD materials are discussed in view of applications.