Experimental demonstration of anticipating synchronization in chaotic semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

We report the first experimental observation of anticipating chaotic synchronization in an optical system using two diode lasers as transmitter and receiver. The transmitter laser is rendered chaotic by application of an optical feedback in an external-cavity configuration. It is found that the anticipation time does not depend on the external-cavity round trip time of the transmitter.     

Chaos synchronization in injection-locked semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Based on the rate equations, we have investigated three types of chaos synchronizations in injection-locked semiconductor lasers with optical feedback. Numerical simulation shows that the synchronization can be realized by the symmetric or asymmetric laser systems. Also, the influence of parameter mismatches on chaos synchronization is investigated, and the results imply that these two lasers can achieve good synchronization, with smaller tolerance of parameter mismatch existing.     

Chaos synchronization in semiconductor lasers with polarization-rotated optical feedback

Chaotic oscillations of the transverse magnetic (TM) mode, which is not a common lasing mode, are excited by using polarization-rotated optical feedback from the transverse electric (TE) mode in a semiconductor laser. In our previous paper, we found that the dynamics were strongly dependent on their RF components under the condition of moderate optical feedback from the TE mode to the TM mode and that they were divided into three RF regions; low-pass filtered signals with a lower frequency than the laser relaxation oscillation frequency, intermediate RF components including the relaxation oscillation frequency, and high-pass filtered signals with a higher frequency higher than the relaxation oscillation frequency. Depending on the frequency bands, the laser outputs showed different correlations. In the present study, using such schemes, the polarization-rotated beam from a transmitter laser (i.e., the rotated TE-mode beam of a transmitter laser) is injected into a receiver laser. We experimentally observe chaos synchronization in accordance with the dynamics of RF components on the transmitter laser side. We also perform numerical calculations using a model and obtain good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results.     

Complete chaotic synchronization characteristics of the linear-polarization mode of vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers with isotropic optical feedback

Based on the SFM model [M. San Miguel, Q. Feng, J.V. Moloney, Phys. Rev. A. 52 (1995) 1728.], complete chaotic synchronization characteristics of linear-polarization (LP) Mode of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers (VCSELs) with isotropic optical feedback are numerically investigated. When the propagation time τ_c of light from the transmitter to the receiver equals to the external cavity round-trip time τ, and the central frequency of the T_VCSEL matches that of the R_VCSEL, in large scale region of the feedback coefficient and the injection current where the x-polarization mode as well as the y-polarization mode obtains high synchronization quality at the same time. However, in the central frequency mismatch regions where the x- and y-polarization mode can obtain inferior synchronization quality at same time. But for τ_c ≠ τ, each LP mode of the mixed polarization modes achieved inferior synchronization quality at the same time. Besides, with big enough injection current, the output of the system with the same central frequency in two lasers is entirely governed by the y-polarization mode when the feedback coefficient and Δτ(=τ_c − τ) fixed at a certain value. So the system can realize steadily good synchronization of the completely dominant y-polarization mode. But the synchronization quality of the completely dominated y-polarization mode can be deteriorated by increasing absolute frequency detuning value. Besides, in positive frequency mismatch regions where the influence of the same frequency detuning value on the synchronization quality of the entirely governed y-polarization mode becomes smaller than in negative frequency detuning regions. At last, when τ is given and the central frequency of the T_VCSEL matches that of the R_VCSEL, the influence of the τ_c is not a simple time-shift in the time-evolution of the receiver VCSEL, which has serious influence on the complete synchronization quality of each LP mode.     

Bandwidth-enhanced chaos synchronization in strongly injection-locked semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Bandwidth-enhanced chaos synchronization in strongly injection-locked semiconductor lasers with optical feedback is numerically studied based on laser rate equations. The bandwidth of the chaotic carrier frequency in a semiconductor laser with optical feedback is expanded roughly three times by strong optical injection compared with the bandwidth when there is no optical injection. Using a bandwidth-enhanced semiconductor laser as a chaotic transmitter and receiver, we synchronized transmitter and the receiver lasers in a complete chaos synchronization scheme.     

基于双光反馈半导体激光器的单向开环混沌同步通信

利用双光反馈半导体激光器作为混沌发射源, 构建了一个单向开环混沌通信系统, 并对系统的通信性能进行了相关仿真研究. 研究表明: 通过合理选取系统参量, 双光反馈半导体激光器所产生的混沌载波能很好地抑制外腔延时特征; 发射激光器和接收激光器在强注入锁定下能实现很好的混沌同步, 并且同步性能对频率失谐具有很好的容忍性; 采用附加混沌调制加密方式, 500 Mbits/s的信号能够很好地隐藏于混沌载波中, 并可在接收端成功解调. 关键词： 半导体激光器 单向耦合 混沌通信     

Self-organization in semiconductor lasers with ultrashort optical feedback

The dynamical behavior of a single-mode laser subject to optical feedback is investigated in the limit, when the delay time is much shorter than the period of the relaxation oscillations. Use of an integrated distributed feedback device allows us to control the feedback phase. We observe two kinds of Hopf bifurcations associated with regular self-pulsations of different frequencies.     

Experimental synchronization of chaotic oscillations in external-cavity semiconductor lasers

Synchronization of fast chaotic oscillations of the order of gigahertz is experimentally observed in two external-cavity semiconductor lasers.     

基于光电反馈的激光混沌并联同步系统研究

提出了基于光电反馈的激光混沌并联同步方案,对可能存在的两种同步——广义同步和完全同步进行了研究,着重讨论了激光器内部参数失配对发射与接收激光器之间以及并联接收激光器之间同步特性的影响.研究结果显示：在一定范围内,同样的内部参数失配下,并联接收激光器之间的同步效果明显优于发射激光器与接收激光器之间的同步效果. 关键词： 半导体激光器 混沌同步 光电反馈 参数失配     

Theoretical investigations of cascaded chaotic synchronization and communication based on optoelectronic negative feedback semiconductor lasers

In this paper, a novel chaotic relay system, based on cascaded synchronization in optoelectronic negative feedback chaotic semiconductor lasers, is presented. Synchronization characteristics and the influence of parameter mismatches on synchronization performances are investigated. The results show that the complete synchronization can be achieved under suitable system parameters; internal parameter mismatches of the lasers have influence on synchronization quality, but the system possesses more robustness to parameter mismatches compared with cascaded synchronization based on coherent optical feedback. Moreover, communication related issues are also investigated. Under the additive chaos modulation (ACM) encryption scheme, encoded messages can be successfully extracted at both mediator laser (ML) and receiver laser (RL) parts; parameter mismatches of the lasers will affect messages decoding, but the influence is not strong.     

Chaos dynamics in semiconductor lasers with polarization-rotated optical feedback

By using polarization-rotated optical feedback from the transverse-electric (TE) mode to the transverse-magnetic (TM) mode, chaotic oscillations for both polarization modes are excited in a semiconductor laser. We find different correlations between these chaotic oscillations than those found in previous studies. In this study, the dynamics are strongly dependent on their radio-frequency (RF) components and they are divided into three RF regions. For low-pass filtered signals lower than the laser relaxation oscillation, there is an antiphase correlation between the two polarization modes. On the other hand, the two polarization modes have an in-phase correlation for the RF components of the high-pass filtered signals, which are higher than the relaxation oscillation. However, no correlations were observed between the two modes for the intermediate RF components that include the relaxation oscillation frequency. We also perform numerical calculations for the model and obtain good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results.     

Bidirectional chaos synchronization and communication in semiconductor lasers with optoelectronic feedback

In this paper, a bidirectional chaos communication system based on the optoelectronic feedback semiconductor lasers (SLs) is presented, and the synchronization characteristics and the communication performances of such system are simulated numerically. The results show that the high-quality synchronization with zero lag time and simultaneous bidirectional message transmission can be realized under the suitable system parameters; the internal parameter mismatches of the lasers have influence on the synchronization quality and communication performance, but this system still possesses good robustness to parameter mismatches. Meanwhile, the security can be ensured through a suitable encoding-decoding technique.     

Frequency domain analysis of the chaotic synchronization of injection-locked semiconductor lasers

The quality and degree of synchronization obtained between a chaotic master laser diode and a slave laser diode is usually assessed using a correlogram. This technique is known to accurately identify areas of good synchronization, but it is not able to elucidate why these regions exist. By using a complementary frequency domain technique, the response gain, we have been able to obtain further insight into the synchronization process. We show using numerical simulations that trends in synchronization quality evident in the injection-locking diagram are also present in the response gain. We also show that most of the spectral power is situated in a small band of frequencies close to the relaxation oscillation frequency of the master laser and that accurate reproduction of these frequency components in the slave laser is vital in achieving a good synchronization. We associate the variation in synchronization quality within the injection-locking regime to changes in the response gain profile induced by the optical injection from the master laser. Variations in the spectral profile of the response gain clearly delineate and explain the various regions seen in the correlation synchronization diagram.     

Periodic locking of chaos in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

We show how a chaotic system can be locked to emit a periodic waveform belonging to its chaotic attractor. We numerically demonstrate our idea in a system composed of a semiconductor laser driven to chaos by optical feedback from an external cavity. The clue is the injection of an appropriate periodic signal that modulates the phase and amplitude of the intra-cavity radiation, a chaotic analogy of conventional mode-locking. The result is a time process that manifests a chaotic signature embedded in a long-scale periodic train.     

Excitability of periodic and chaotic attractors in semiconductor lasers with optoelectronic feedback

The dynamics of a semiconductor laser with AC-coupled nonlinear optoelectronic feedback has been experimentally studied. A period doubling sequence of small periodic and chaotic attractors is observed, each of them displaying excitable features. This scenario is found also in a simplified physical model of the system, thus extending the concept of excitability, usually associated to fixed points, also to the case of higher-dimensional attractors.     

Experimental verification of anticipated and retarded synchronization in chaotic semiconductor lasers

Experimental observation of both anticipated and retarded synchronization is demonstrated using unidirectionally coupled semiconductor lasers with delayed optoelectronic feedback. Depending on the difference between the transmission time and the feedback delay time, the lasers fall into either the anticipated or the retarded synchronization regime, where the driven receiver laser leads or lags behind the driving transmitter laser. The two regimes are observed to have the same stability of chaos synchronization in the presence of small perturbations by noise and parameter mismatches. In both regimes the observed time shift between the synchronized chaotic waveforms is found to be equal to the difference between the transmission time and the feedback delay time.     

光注入下外光反馈半导体激光器输出自相关特性研究

基于半导体激光器(SL)受到外部扰动(光反馈和光注入)下的速率方程组,研究了反馈系数、延迟时间、注入强度和频率失谐对半导体激光器输出混沌信号自相关特性的影响.研究表明：上述四个参量对SL输出混沌信号的自相关函数曲线的半高全宽(FWHM)以及边峰抑制比都有影响;通过合理选择各参量,可以使SL输出的混沌信号具有尖锐的自相关函数曲线分布,其FWHM可降到0.02 ns,比已有相关报道提高了一个数量级. 关键词： 半导体激光器 光反馈 光注入 自相关函数     

Sensitivity of quantum-dot semiconductor lasers to optical feedback

The sensitivity of quantum-dot semiconductor lasers to optical feedback is analyzed with a Lang-Kobayashi approach applied to a standard quantum-dot laser model. The carriers are injected into a quantum well and are captured by, or escape from, the quantum dots through either carrier-carrier or phonon-carrier interaction. Because of Pauli blocking, the capture rate into the dots depends on the carrier occupancy level in the dots. Here we show that different carrier capture dynamics lead to a strong modification of the damping of the relaxation oscillations. Regions of increased damping display reduced sensitivity to optical feedback even for a relatively large alpha factor.     

Observation of multi-path interference in broad-area semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Multi-path interference effects induced by optical feedback in broad-area semiconductor lasers is experimentally studied. An external mirror and an internal laser cavity form a closed composite optical feedback loop. For a very small tilt of the external mirror for the exit facet along the stripe width of the active layer, the light emitted from the laser undergoes multi-path reflections in the composite cavity, and we therefore observe multi-path interference effects of the laser oscillations for a small mirror tilt. The laser output power always shows the fundamental mode of the single feedback loop together with an oscillation of a certain higher multi-path loop. The laser oscillation and the beam profile are strongly dependent on the tilt. We observed up to a nine-fold multi-path interference in the experiment.     

基于光反馈的单向耦合注入垂直腔表面发射激光器的矢量混沌同步特性研究

基于自旋反向模型(SFM)，数值研究了基于光反馈的单向耦合注入垂直腔表面发射激光器的矢量混沌同步特性，研究结果表明：当外部光反馈时间等于光从发射系统到接收系统传输时间时， x偏振模和y偏振模都能接收最好的完全混沌同步质量.若外部光反馈时间不等于传输时间且注入电流接近阈值电流时，占主导的y偏振模能暂时实现较好的完全混沌同步质量.相比较而言，占主导地位的x偏振模至始至终获得很差的同步质量，另外，当系统输出为混合偏振模时，混合偏振模中的每一个线性偏振模获得很差完全同步质量.然而，当注入电流远大于阈值电流时，系统输出仅为y偏振模，这时y偏振模能稳定地实现最好的完全混沌同步质量.最后，当接收激光器受到线性偏振模的强注入时，每一个注入线性偏振模能与接收激光器输出的对应的线性偏振模实现很好的注入锁定同步.然而，每一个占主导的线性偏振模比另一被抑制的线性偏振模获得更差注入锁定同步质量、如果有相等的能量的两个线性偏振模同时存在，这两个线性偏振模获得差不多一致的注入锁定混同步质量， 换句话说，能量较少的线性偏振能获得较高的注入锁定同步质量. 关键词： 线性偏振态 垂直腔表面发射激光器 完全矢量混沌同步 强注入锁定矢量混沌同步