Labyrinth bifurcations in optically injected diode lasers

Although pulsating and chaotic regimes in injection-locked semiconductor lasers have been described often in the literature, so far their relative abundance has remained poorly explored. Here, for two popular laser models, we report detailed Lyapunov phase (stability) diagrams characterizing the extension in parameter space of pulsating phases. Our phase (stability) diagrams discriminate regular from chaotic laser emissions and indicate where multistability is to be expected in injection-locked semiconductor lasers.