Optical Buffering and Mechanisms for Its Occurrence

We investigate a mathematical nonlinear-optics model that is a scalar parabolic equation on a circle with a small diffusion coefficient and a deviating spatial argument. We establish that the problem under consideration is characterized by the so-called buffering phenomenon, i.e.under an appropriate choice of the parameters, the coexistence of an arbitrary fixed number of time-periodic stable solutions of the problem can be obtained. We reveal the mechanisms for the occurrence of this phenomenon.