Find smallest $n$ such that $a$ divides $b^n-1$

Suppose $a$ and $b$ are relatively prime integers $\geq 2$. I need to find the smallest positive integer $n$ such that $b^n-1$ is divisible by $a$. Is there an efficient algorithm for finding this, or do I need to use brute force?

I looked into this a bit and the answer seems related to Euler's totient function, but the only thing I've found so far is that if $m$ (the answer I'm looking for) is the smallest such $n$, then $m \leq \phi(a)$; I didn't find anything that would tell me how I could tell when $m = \phi(a)$ or if there were any other way to narrow down the possibilities so that I wouldn't have to check every number from $1$ to $\phi(a)$.

Essentially, you're looking for the smallest $n$ such that $b^n \equiv 1 \pmod a$. This is called the "order" of $b$.
First: let $k$ be any integer, not necessarily the smallest one, such that $b^k \equiv 1 \pmod a$. Can you show that $m$ divides $k$?
Second: there are many ways of showing that $b^{\varphi(a)} \equiv 1 \mod a$. (Euler's theorem)
What does this imply about your $m$?
• Thanks, I didn't know it was called "order". (Or "multiplicative order".) That will help me look into it myself further, to see what efficient algorithms there might be for computing it. So $m$ divides $\varphi(a)$, which should help even if I can't find any other info. – ajb Sep 24 '14 at 17:14