Abstract

We investigate experimentally and theoretically the polarization switching found in single-transverse-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) when subject to parallel optical injection. Our analysis focuses on a recently observed state in which injection locking of the parallel polarization and excitation of the free-running orthogonal polarization of the VCSEL are obtained. A simple nonlinear dependence between the power of both linear polarizations and the frequency detuning is found. Also, the total power emitted by the VCSEL is constant and independent of the injected optical power and the frequency detuning. We check these results experimentally for a variety of frequency detunings and bias currents applied to the device. We report experimental and theoretical stability maps in the injected power-frequency detuning plane for different bias currents, identifying the regions in which the state is observed. A simple analytical expression that describes the map boundary for large and negative frequency detunings is obtained. This provides a simple method to extract the linear dichroism of the device.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

Correlation properties and time-resolved dynamics of linear polarizations emitted by single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers subject to orthogonal optical injection

Ana Quirce, Pablo Pérez, Angel Valle, and Luis Pesquera
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 28(11) 2765-2776 (2011)

Polarization dynamics of a multimode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser subject to orthogonal optical injection

Hong Lin, Yu Zhang, David W. Pierce, Ana Quirce, and Angel Valle
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 29(4) 867-873 (2012)

Chaos synchronization in mutually coupled 1550-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with parallel polarizations and long delay time

A. Quirce, A. Valle, H. Thienpont, and K. Panajotov
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 33(1) 90-98 (2016)

Photonic generation of high-frequency microwave signals utilizing a multi-transverse-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser subject to two-frequency orthogonaloptical injection

Ana Quirce, Angel Valle, Hong Lin, David W. Pierce, and Yu Zhang
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 29(12) 3259-3270 (2012)

Polarization dynamics induced by orthogonal optical injection close to the lasing mode of a single-transverse-mode VCSEL

Pablo Pérez, Hong Lin, Ángel Valle, and Luis Pesquera
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 31(11) 2901-2907 (2014)