Abstract

Narrow stripe laser diodes with optical feedback (NSLDOF) have found considerable interest within the last 10 years. This is due to the practical importance of this system, and NSLDOF can serve as a model system for the investigation of nonlinear systems.^1-4 NSLDOF exhibit drastical changes in the output behavior for specific values of the operation parameters, in particular, a collapse of the coherence of the laser light emission is found. Experiments and numerical simulations have explained these changes within a quasiperiodic route to chaos with variation of the feedback level¹ and an intermittency route with variation of the injection current.^2,3 For the intermittency route, the time evolution of the emitted light intensity shows typical break down events. These breakdown events can be characterized as low frequency fluctuations (LFF) because their frequency is small in comparison to the external cavity round-trip frequency.

© 1994 IEEE