Abstract

Semiconductor lasers subject to optical feedback from an external cavity show a variety of dynamical effects associated with a drastic increase in optical linewidth. Therefore, these dynamical effects are referred to as Coherence Collapse. A most striking phenomenon within the Coherence Collapse is the onset of irregular fluctuations of the laser intensity on nano to microsecond timescales, the so called Low Frequency Fluctuations(LFF). A deterministic model based on an analysis of the Lang-Kobayashi equations explains the mechanism causing the LFF as a chaotic itinerancy with a drift. This model has been confirmed by the observation of sustained irregular picosecond pulsing which the theory predicts to be underlying to the LFF [1].

© 1998 IEEE