Dynamic regimes in semiconductor lasers subject to incoherent optical feedback

The dynamics of a semiconductor laser subject to polarization-rotated (incoherent) optical feedback in the long cavity limit has been numerically and experimentally investigated. The results show that the induced dynamics can be grouped into four regimes (stable, chaotic, pulsed, and two state) and that the transverse-magnetic mode of the laser never lases in the ring cavity configuration studied. In addition, unlike the earlier short-cavity work, the boundaries between the regimes in the long-cavity case were found to be independent of the external-cavity delay time.     

耦合半导体激光器的多调制延时混沌同步

为了研究多调制延时混沌系统的动力学,用数值计算法研究了非相干光反馈与非相干光注入半导体激光器的多常数延时与多调制延时混沌同步,由于该系统是基于非相干注入的,所以不需要接收激光器与发送激光器频率完全匹配。另外,研究了非相干光反馈半导体激光器输出自相关函数。结果表明,多常数延时和多调制延时两种情况下都能获得高质量的同步,但在多调制延时系统中自相关函数的延时标识可以被隐藏,这一特性大大提高了系统的安全性,非常适用于混沌保密通信系统。     

利用耦合时延增强激光混沌系统安全性能研究

安全性是混沌通信中的重要问题。基于一个外光反馈半导体激光器驱动两个互耦合激光器的混沌通信系统,研究激光混沌系统中反馈时延与耦合时延特征,并应用龙格-库塔法进行动态仿真。重点分析了当调节一些可控参数(耦合时延和驱动强度)时,能够改变两耦合激光器输出自相关函数中反馈时延和耦合时延幅值的差异,以此掩藏反馈时延,从而得出更优载波。仿真结果说明利用耦合时延可以增强激光混沌系统的安全性。最后给出了在优化载波后系统同步质量的讨论。     

Synchronization and communication using semiconductor lasers withoptoelectronic feedback

Semiconductor lasers provide an excellent opportunity for communication using chaotic waveforms. We discuss the characteristics and the synchronization of two semiconductor lasers with optoelectronic feedback. The systems exhibit broadband chaotic intensity oscillations whose dynamical dimension generally increases with the time delay in the feedback loop. We explore the robustness of this synchronization with parameter mismatch in the lasers, with mismatch in the optoelectronic feedback delay, and with the strength of the coupling between the systems. Synchronization is robust to mismatches between the intrinsic parameters of the lasers, but it is sensitive to mismatches of the time delay in the transmitter and receiver feedback loops. An open-loop receiver configuration is suggested, eliminating feedback delay mismatch issues. Communication strategies for arbitrary amplitude of modulation onto the chaotic signals are discussed, and the bit-error rate for one such scheme is evaluated as a function of noise in the optical channel     

偏振选择互注入半导体激光器的混沌同步

研究了偏振选择互注入条件下半导体激光器的同步和混沌滤波效应。将单模互注入速率方程扩展为包含两个偏振态的理论模型,并选择X偏振态作为互注入形式,不仅为激光器产生混沌和实现同步提供了条件,还可以完全抑制Y偏振光,实现了纯偏振模式同步。通过频率失调的引入,保持了激光器主从地位的稳定。研究结果表明,主从激光器实现了时差等于注入延时的混沌同步,输出功率表现出高频振荡并伴随有对称性破坏现象。对主激光器进行调制时,同步系统表现出与单向注入相似的混沌滤波效应;对从激光器进行调制时,系统的混沌滤波效应并不明显。     

Open-versus closed-loop performance of synchronized chaotic external-cavity semiconductor lasers

We numerically study the synchronization or entrainment of two unidirectional coupled single-mode semiconductor lasers in a master-slave configuration. The emitter laser is an external-cavity laser subject to optical feedback that operates in a chaotic regime. The receiver can either operate at a chaotic regime similar to the emitter (closed-loop configuration) or without optical feedback and consequently under continuous-wave conditions when it is uncoupled (open-loop configuration). We compute the degree of synchronization of the two lasers as a function of the emitter-receiver coupling constant, the feedback rate of the receiver, and the detuning. We find that the closed-loop scheme has, in general, a larger region of synchronization when compared with the open loop. We also study the possibility of message encoding and decoding in both open and closed loops and their robustness against parameter mismatch. Finally, we compute the time it takes the system to recover the synchronization or entrainment state when the coupling between the two subsystems is lost. We find that this time is much larger in the closed loop than in the open one.     

Demultiplexing chaos from multimode semiconductor lasers

We show numerically that the injection of two chaotic modes of a multimode semiconductor laser with optical feedback into two single-mode stand-alone semiconductor lasers leads to chaotic synchronization between the respective intensities. The effect of parameter mismatch between the transmitter and receiver lasers is examined, and it is concluded that the observed synchronization is a consequence of injection locking. Under these conditions, the possibility of using this demultiplexing scheme for message transmission is examined.     

Anticipating synchronization based on optical injection-locking in chaotic semiconductor lasers

Numerical studies for anticipating chaos synchronization in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback are presented. Anticipating chaos synchronization in a delay-differential system is believed to occur when all chaos parameters between the two systems are perfectly coincident with each other. However, we find new schemes of anticipating chaos synchronization when the parameters between the two systems have mismatches. Under these conditions, the time lag between the two laser outputs is equal to that of anticipating chaos synchronization, but the physical origin of the phenomenon comes from optical injection-locking or amplification in laser systems. We show the evidence of such chaotic synchronization using trajectories in the phase space of the phase difference and the carrier density in the laser oscillations.     

Digital optical signal processing with polarization-bistable semiconductor lasers

The operations of a complete set of optical AND, NAND, OR, and NOR gates and clocked opticalS-R, D, J-K,andTflip-flops are demonstrated, based on direct polarization switching and polarization bistability, which we have recently observed in InGaAsP/InP semiconductor lasers. By operating the laser in the direct-polarization-switchable mode, the output of the laser can be directly switched between the TM00and TE00modes with high extinction ratios by changing the injection-current level, and optical logic gates are constructed with two optoelectronic switches or photodetectors. In the polarization-bistable mode, the laser exhibits controllable hysteresis loops in the polarization-resolved power versus current characteristics. When the laser is biased in the middle of hysteresis loop, the light output can be switched between the two polarization states by injection of short electrical or optical pulses, and clocked optical flip-flops are constructed with a few optoelectronic switches and/or photodetectors. The 1 and 0 states of these devices are defined through polarization changes of the laser and direct complement functions are obtainable from the TE and TM output signals from the same laser. Switching of the polarization-bistable lasers with fast-rising current pulses has an instrument-limited mode-switching time on the order of 1 ns. With fast optoelectronic switches and/or fast photodetectors, the overall switching speed of the logic gates and flip-flops is limited by the polarization-bistable laser to < 1 ns. We have demonstrated the operations of these devices using optical signals generated by semiconductor lasers. The proposed schemes of our devices are compatible with monolithic integration based on current fabrication technology and are applicable to other types of bistable semiconductor lasers.     

Synchronized chaotic optical communications at high bit rates

Basic issues regarding synchronized chaotic optical communications at high bit rates using semiconductor lasers are considered. Recent experimental results on broadband, high-frequency, phase-locked chaos synchronization, and message encoding-decoding at 2.5 Gb/s are presented. System performance at a bit rate of 10 Gb/s is numerically studied for the application of three encryption schemes, namely chaos shift keying, chaos masking, and additive chaos modulation, to three chaotic semiconductor laser systems, namely the optical injection system, the optical feedback system, and the optoelectronic feedback system. By causing synchronization error in the forms of synchronization deviation and desynchronization bursts, the channel noise and the laser noise both have significant effects on the system performance at high bit rates. Among the three laser systems, the optoelectronic feedback system has the best performance while the optical feedback system has the worst. Among the three encryption schemes, only the performance of additive chaos modulation with low-noise lasers is acceptable at high bit rates.     

Chaos synchronization and chaotic signal masking in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Theoretical and experimental investigations of chaos synchronization and its application to chaotic data transmissions in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback are presented. Two schemes of chaos synchronization-complete and generalized synchronization-are discussed in the delay differential systems. The conditions for chaos synchronization in the systems and the robustness for the parameter mismatches are studied. The possibility of secure communications based on the chaos masking technique in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback is also discussed, and message transmission of a 1.5-GHz sinusoidal signal is demonstrated. The method of bandwidth enhancement of chaotic carriers is proposed for broad-band chaos communications.     

Mode description of routes to chaos in external-cavity coupledsemiconductor lasers

The nonlinear behaviors of routes to chaos in semiconductor lasers with external optical feedback were explored in this work. It was indicated that the relaxation oscillation was the origin of the first nonlinear instability of optical intensity under a short delay. Three types of transition routes with quasi-periodic, subharmonic oscillation, and periodic doubling to optical chaos were distinguished in terms of the delay time normalized to the inverse of the relaxation oscillation frequency of a solitary laser diode. The linearized mode theory and small-signal response were confirmed as part of the phenomena in the transitions to chaos     

Synchronized chaotic mode hopping in DBR lasers with delayedopto-electric feedback

We propose and demonstrate a scheme for generating synchronized chaotic mode hopping in two wavelength-tunable lasers. Chaotic mode hopping resulting in large hops in wavelength is induced by delayed feedback of an electrical signal proportional to the intensity of the laser output which passes through an optical filter. Mode hopping among up to 11 modes was experimentally observed and optical signals in each wavelength band show a different on-off modulation time series. Analysis of the time series indicates high dimensionality. By using a unidirectional coupling method that injects part of the output of one laser into another, we can synchronize the chaotic mode hopping of two separate lasers and obtain synchronized chaotic on-off modulation patterns in multiple corresponding wavelength bands. The robustness of the synchronization with respect to the parameter mismatch and the effects of the coupling strength are investigated. The chaotic mode hopping dynamics and synchronization are well described with a numerical model that includes the characteristics of the laser tuning and the filter transmission. A multiplexed data transmission scheme using chaotic carriers is proposed and experiments demonstrate that multiple messages can be simultaneously recovered when chaos synchronization is achieved     

Injection locking and synchronization of periodic and chaotic signals in semiconductor lasers

We experimentally investigate the synchronous response of a semiconductor laser to the injection of a periodic or chaotic oscillating optical signal that is generated by a similar semiconductor laser with optical feedback. We show that there are two different types of synchronous response, appearing in separate regimes of laser frequency detuning and injection strength. They are distinguished by the time lag of the slave-laser response with respect to the injection signal from the output of the master laser. The experimental observations are well described by a numerical model consisting of a set of rate equations. It is revealed that the first type of synchronous response corresponds to the complete synchronization solution of the equations and the second type of response is the result of strong driving. The relevance of these two types of synchronous behavior to a number of recent experiments on chaos synchronization and their implications for data encoding/recovery using chaotic carriers are discussed.     

光子集成混沌半导体激光器研究进展（特邀）

混沌激光具有宽频谱、类噪声、低相干等特性,在保密光通信、高速随机数、混沌激光雷达、混沌光时域反射仪和分布式光纤传感等领域具有重要的应用价值。光子集成混沌激光器是混沌激光应用的核心器件,具有体积小、性能稳定、成本低等优点。综述了近十年来光子集成混沌半导体激光器的进展及其主要应用。首先介绍了混沌半导体激光器的集成方式;接着介绍了光子集成混沌半导体激光器的分类,根据其扰动方式讨论了直腔单反馈、多腔反馈、环形腔反馈、二维外腔反馈、互注入等结构,并对比分析了各自的优势与输出特性;然后介绍了光子集成混沌半导体激光器在光时域反射仪、保密光通信和高速随机数产生等方面的应用;最后,讨论了光子集成混沌激光器的关键集成技术、时延特征抑制及间歇混沌的特性。     

Electromagnetically induced distributed feedback intersubband lasers

We propose a method to coherently generate uniform and phase-shifted complex-coupled (CC) semiconductor distributed feedback (DFB) lasers based on intersubband transitions in n-doped quantum-well structures. This is done by utilizing infrared-induced coherent optical processes in these structures including resonant enhancement of refractive index of the conduction intersubband transitions and generation of laser-induced transparency and gain without inversion. We show that these coherent phenomena can generate electromagnetically induced gratings where the index and gain/loss perturbations and their relative phases can be manipulated using an infrared laser beam. This allows us to coherently control optical feedback in a waveguide structure, switching from a case where there is no feedback in the absence of the infrared laser to the case where different types of CC optical feedbacks are generated as this field is properly adjusted. These include generation of gain and index perturbations (partly gain-coupled DFB laser), pure index corrugation (index-coupled DFB laser), and loss and index perturbations (loss-coupled DFB laser). We study these feedback mechanisms in the cases where the optically induced gratings are uniform along the cavity or have a /spl pi//2 phase shift. We discuss mode characteristics of such electromagnetically induced DFB intersubband lasers and find out how here the gain- and index-coupled DFB lasers are associated, respectively, with gain without inversion and laser-induced transparency in the conduction intersubband transitions of quantum-well structures.     

光反馈垂直腔面发射半导体激光器的混沌驱动同步

基于光反馈垂直腔面发射半导体激光器动力学模型,通过分析光子数密度随光反馈强度变化的分岔情况,确定了激光器处于混沌态时的参数区间。利用混沌信号驱动同步方案,实现了两个被驱动激光器的精确混沌同步,并通过对两个被驱动激光器相关系数的分析,确定了它们达到精确混沌同步的参数区间。研究了参数失配对同步的影响,结果表明该同步方案有很好的稳健性。     

DFB半导体激光器自注入锁定失稳因素分析

分布反馈(Distributed Feedback, DFB)半导体激光器具有体积小、成本低和工艺成熟等优势,但兆赫兹量级的线宽使其应用范围受限。采用环形谐振器对其进行自注入锁定,可将线宽压窄到千赫兹量级,但仍存在锁定不稳定的问题。文章采用四只不同的环形谐振器对DFB半导体激光器进行自注入锁定,通过实验监测自注入锁定时多个端口的光功率、偏振态和光波长的变化,揭示影响DFB半导体激光器自注入锁定稳定性的因素有谐振模式跳变、偏振态跳变,以及外界温度和振动引起的锁定环路的相位变化,且使用不同类型的环形谐振器进行锁定时,主导的影响因素不同。控制这些影响因素可以改善DFB半导体激光器自注入锁定的稳定性,使DFB半导体激光器自注入锁定技术有更好的应用效果。     

Theoretical analysis of external optical feedback on DFB semiconductor lasers

The effect of external optical feedback on resonant frequency, threshold gain, and spectral linewidth of distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor lasers is theoretically analyzed. The analysis applies to any type of laser cavity formed by a corrugated waveguide limited by partially reflecting facets. It is shown that the sensitivity to optical feedback on a facet is closely related to the power emitted through this facet. Numerical results on wavelength selectivity and on sensitivity to optical feedback are given for conventional DFB lasers having an AR-coated facet and for quarter-wave-shifted (QWS) DFB lasers with AR-coatings on both facets. Both laser types are found to be more sensitive to optical feedback on their AR-coated facet than Fabry-Perot lasers for lowkL. On the other hand, QWS-DFB lasers are found to be relatively insensitive to optical feedback for largekL.     

Dynamic properties of transverse-magnetic wave injectedsemiconductor lasers

Dynamic responses of optical polarization bistability and self-sustained pulsation in transverse-magnetic (TM) wave injected semiconductor lasers are analyzed. Due to the TM wave injection, laser amplification of TM wave and laser oscillation in the transverse-electric (TE) mode simultaneously occurs in the laser. The calculated dynamic responses of optical polarization bistability are compared with measured responses. The upper limit of the switching time and the repetition frequency are clarified from calculations. The self-sustained pulsation triggered by a change of TM input power is found in the course of the calculation. The conditions needed for the pulsation are discussed