  A universal law for the supercritical bifurcation shape of transverse
one-dimensional (1D) systems in presence of additive noise is given. The
stochastic Langevin equation of such systems is solved by using a Fokker-Planck
equation leading to the expression for the most probable amplitude of the
critical mode. From this universal expression, the shape of the bifurcation,
its location and its evolution with the noise level are completely defined.
Experimental results obtained for a 1D transverse Kerr-like slice subjected to
optical feedback are in excellent agreement.
