Nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor laser arrays

Herbert G. Winful

doi:10.1117/12.18118

1 May 1990 Nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor laser arrays

Herbert G. Winful

Proceedings Volume 1216, Nonlinear Optical Materials and Devices for Photonic Switching; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18118
Event: OE/LASE '90, 1990, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

In this paper we consider the spontaneous emergence of organized behavior and spatio-temporal chaos in an array of coupled semiconductor lasers. In the absence of coupling, each laser in the array exhibits a constant, steady state output intensity in response to a constant input pump current. For constant pump currents above lasing threshold, the individual lasers do not exhibit any interesting instabilities such as chaos. In the presence of coupling, the constant steady state can lose its stability and non-trivial spatio-temporal complexity results. The nature of the spatio-temporal dynamics depends on the strength of the coupling between adjacent elements. For low coupling strengths the stable steady state is one in which the fields in adjacent elements have nearly equal amplitudes and a phase difference close to 'ii. As the coupling is increased a Hopf bifurcation to a spatially ordered and temporally periodic output is obtained. Further increases in coupling strength lead to full blown spatio-temporal chaos.

Citation Download Citation

Herbert G. Winful "Nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor laser arrays", Proc. SPIE 1216, Nonlinear Optical Materials and Devices for Photonic Switching, (1 May 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18118

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