Feedback induced instabilities in a quantum dot semiconductor laser.

We analyse the properties of GaAs based quantum dot semiconductor lasers emitting near 1310 nm. The line-width enhancement factor is shown to depend strongly on device temperature, ranging from 1.5 at 20 degrees C to 5 at 50 degrees C.

Low-frequency fluctuations in two-state quantum dot lasers.

We study the feedback-induced instabilities in a quantum dot semiconductor laser emitting in both ground and excited states. Without optical feedback the device exhibits dynamics corresponding to antiphase fluctuations between ground and excited states, while the total output power remains constant. The introduction of feedback leads to power dropouts in the ground state and intensity bursts in the excited state, resulting in a practically constant total output power.

Synchronization and clustering in a multimode quantum dot laser.

We analyze experimentally the intensity oscillations of the longitudinal modes of quantum dot semiconductor lasers. We show that the modal intensities can oscillate chaotically with different average frequencies, but obey a highly organized antiphase dynamics leading to a constant total output power. The fluctuations are in the MHz range.

Delay-induced excitability.

We analyze the stochastic dynamics of a bistable system under the influence of time-delayed feedback. Assuming an asymmetric potential, we show the existence of a regime in which the system dynamics displays excitability by calculating the relevant residence time distributions and power spectra. Experimentally we then observe this behavior in the polarization dynamics of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser with optoelectronic feedback.

Dynamics of traveling waves in the transverse section of a laser.

We analyze the general features of the formation and interaction of transverse traveling waves and the appearance of filamentation in broad area semiconductor lasers with current profiling. For small apertures, the emitted profile is symmetric consisting of two counterpropagating transverse traveling waves, both emanating from the center of the device. For larger apertures, the emission becomes asymmetric as one of the traveling waves expands to occupy an increased area while the other occupies the remaining, smaller spatial region.