Attractor hopping between polarization dynamical states in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser subject to parallel optical injection.

We present experimental and theoretical results of noise-induced attractor hopping between dynamical states found in a single transverse mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) subject to parallel optical injection. These transitions involve dynamical states with different polarizations of the light emitted by the VCSEL. We report an experimental map identifying, in the injected power-frequency detuning plane, regions where attractor hopping between two, or even three, different states occur.

1/f noise in the intensity fluctuations of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers subject to parallel optical injection.

A first analysis of fluctuations of the light intensity of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers operating in a bistable regime reveals the presence of 1/f noise. In this regime the intensity fluctuates between two recently characterized states with residence times {τ_{1}} and {τ_{2}}. We identify three distinct processes.

Polarization dynamics induced by parallel optical injection in a single-mode VCSEL.

We report an experimental study of the polarization nonlinear dynamics in a 1550 nm single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) subject to parallel optical injection. Experimentally measured stability maps identifying regions of different nonlinear dynamics for various values of bias current are reported. We show that VCSELs with more than a 35 dB polarization mode suppression ratio can have rich nonlinear dynamics in both linear polarizations, including periodic and chaotic behaviors appearing simultaneously in both polarization modes.