Pérez García, Victor M.. 

We analyze the Fresnel number and gain dependence of the spatiotemporal dynamics of a dye laser. The results support the existence of ordered behavior in the low-Fresnel-number and low-gain regions and a transition to spatiotemporal disorder when the Fresnel number and/or the gain are increased. The disordered state has a surprisingly small correlation length (much smaller than the system size), supporting the idea that turbulence is possible in laser systems.