Loss of time-delay signature in a ring of three unidirectionally coupled semiconductor lasers

A ring of three unidirectionally coupled semiconductor lasers(RTUC-SLs) is used to generate broadband chaos with no pronounced time-delay(TD) signature. Using the autocorrelation function and permutation entropy as the TD measures, we demonstrate that under suitable coupling strength, the loss of the TD signature of the lasers in the RTUC-SL configuration is achieved both for the intensity and the phase. These findings should prove valuable for developing high-quality optical chaos for potential applications, such as chaos-based communications and random number generation.     

Loss of time-delay signature in the chaotic output of a semiconductor laser with optical feedback

We investigate theoretically the possibility of retrieving the value of the time delay of a semiconductor laser with an external optical feedback from the analysis of its intensity time series. When the feedback rate is moderate and the injection current set such that the laser relaxation-oscillation period is close to the delay, then the time-delay identification becomes extremely difficult, thus improving the security of chaos-based communications using external-cavity lasers.     

Conceal time-delay signature of chaotic vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers by variable-polarization optical feedback

Time-delay (TD) signatures of chaotic outputs generated by vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are investigated quantitatively by using two proposed estimators, the peak signal to mean ratio (PSMR) calculated based on the auto-correlation function, and the valley signal to mean ratio (VSMR) calculated based on an information-theory-based estimator, the permutation entropy (PE) function. The VCSELs subject to variable-polarization optical feedback (VPOF) are considered, and the effects of polarizer angle, feedback strength, feedback delay and injection current are discussed. When the feedback strength is small, the TD signatures for the fully developed chaotic outputs of VCSELs can be well concealed for all polarizer angles. While for large feedback strength, the TD signatures cannot be concealed for any polarizer angle. However, for moderate feedback strength, the TD signatures of VCSELs with VPOF at intermediate polarizer angles can be better concealed than those of VCSELs with conventional polarization-selected optical feedback. Thus, the VCSELs with VPOF are extremely interesting for the security-enhanced chaotic optical communication systems.     

Complex-enhanced chaotic signals with time-delay signature suppression based on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers subject to chaotic optical injection

A chaotic system is constructed on the basis of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), where a slave VCSEL subject to chaotic optical injection (COI) from a master VCSEL with the external feedback. The complex degree (CD) and time-delay signature (TDS) of chaotic signals generated by this chaotic system are investigated numerically via permutation entropy (PE) and self-correlation function (SF) methods, respectively. The results show that, compared with master VCSEL subject to optical feedback, complex-enhanced chaotic signals with TDS suppression can be achieved for S-VCSEL subject to COI. Meanwhile, the influences of several controllable parameters on the evolution maps of CD of chaotic signals are carefully considered. It is shown that the CD of chaotic signals for S-VCSEL is always higher than that for M-VCSEL due to the CIO effect. The TDS of chaotic signals can be significantly suppressed by choosing the reasonable parameters in this system. Furthermore, TDS suppression and high CD chaos can be obtained simultaneously in the specific parameter ranges. The results confirm that this chaotic system may effectively improve the security of a chaos-based communication scheme.     

Alternate oscillations in semiconductor ring lasers

We report on fabrication and characterization of single-longitudinal- and transverse-mode semiconductor ring lasers. A bifurcation from bidirectional stable operation to a regime with alternate oscillations of the counterpropagating modes was observed experimentally and is theoretically explained through a two-mode model. Analytical expressions for the onset and the frequency of the oscillations are derived, and L-I curves numerically evaluated. Good quantitative agreement between theory and measurements made over a large number of tested devices is obtained.     

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.     

All-optical functions based on semiconductor ring lasers

Semiconductor ring laser （SRL） has been shown to possess robust bistability between its two possible directions, i.e., clockwise （cw） and counter-clockwise （ccw） lasing, routinely demonstrating directional extinction ratio （DER） of 〉 25 dB. In this paper, experimental schemes and results using the SRL as a universal photonic digital element to form all-optical logic, memory, and signal processing circuits are summarized. It is demonstrated that the SRL can be used for both combinatorial and sequential logic functions, and as all-optical regeneration devices. Furthermore, it is shown that a SRL logic circuit can be all-optically reconfigured to perform different all-optical logic functions.     

Synchronization of mutually versus unidirectionally coupled chaotic semiconductor lasers

Synchronization dynamics of mutually coupled chaotic semiconductor lasers are investigated experimentally and compared to identical synchronization of unidirectionally coupled lasers. Mutual coupling shows high quality synchronization in a broad range of self-feedback and coupling strengths. It is found to be tolerant to significant parameter mismatch which for unidirectional coupling would result in loss of synchronization. The advantages of mutual coupling are emphasized in light of its potential use in chaos communications.     

Chaos synchronization of optoelectronic coupled semiconductor lasers ring

In this paper, we propose a chaos synchronization configuration based on the optoelectronic coupled semiconductor lasers ring (OCSLR). The synchronization characteristics between semiconductor lasers (SLs) under unidirectional or bidirectional OCSLR are numerically investigated, and the influences of some typical internal and external mismatched parameters on synchronization are simultaneously discussed. The results show that, compared with a unidirectional OCSLR, the bidirectional OCSLR possesses better synchronization properties and robustness to the mismatched parameters. Moreover, the extraction of the encoded signals is preliminarily examined under the chaos shift keying scheme.     

Correlation dimension signature of wideband chaos synchronization of semiconductor lasers

Chaos data analysis has been performed on the chaotic output power time series data from a synchronized transmitter-receiver pair of semiconductor lasers. The system uses an asymmetric, bidirectional coupling configuration between the master (transmitter), which is a laser diode with optical feedback, and a stand-alone slave semiconductor laser. The correlation dimension of the chaotic time series has a minimum value of 4, which was obtained from high-bandwidth measurements. The correlation dimensions for both the master and the synchronized slave are identical when the cross-correlation coefficient of the synchronized chaos is above 0.9. These results establish correlation dimension analysis as an effective tool for the determination of the quality of wideband chaos synchronization.     

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.     

Anticipation in the synchronization of chaotic semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

The synchronization of chaotic semiconductor lasers with optical feedback is studied numerically in a one-way coupling configuration, in which a small amount of the intensity of one laser (master laser) is injected coherently into the other (slave laser). A regime of anticipated synchronization is found, in which the intensity of the slave laser is synchronized to the future chaotic intensity of the master laser. Anticipation is robust to small noise and parameter mismatches, but in this case the synchronization is not complete. It is also shown that anticipated synchronization occurs in coupled time-delay systems, when the coupling has a delay that is less than the delay of the systems.     

Intracavity chaotic dynamics in ring lasers with an injected signal

The intracavity dynamics of optically injected ring lasers is studied by means of an extended delay-differential Ikeda model. The behavior of this kind of lasers is, in some aspects, strikingly different from that of a nonlinear absorber placed in a ring cavity, for which the Ikeda model was originally derived. In particular, chaotic behavior in the laser case is seen to occur on much faster time scales than for the absorber. The scenario in which the transition to chaos occurs is also different.     

一种提取光反馈混沌激光器时延信息的谱分析方法

鉴于时延信息严重威胁着混沌通信的保密性,提出了一种利用频谱仪直接确定激光器时延信息的新方法。通过记录和观察信号的频谱,发现其频谱受到了时延信息的调制;进一步对频谱作逆傅里叶变换,即可直接获取光反馈混沌激光器的时延信息。实验中对腔长L=11.02 m的单反馈和腔长近似相等(L1=11.02 m, L2=11.25 m)或腔长成整数比(L1=11.02 m, L2=22.03 m) 的双反馈情形进行了研究。分析结果表明:在两外腔长度近似相等的情况下,2个外腔长度信息不能被隐藏;当反馈外腔长度成整数比时可以从频谱中提取出半导体激光器的反馈延迟时间。     

Bidirectional communication using delay coupled chaotic directly modulated semiconductor lasers

Chaotic synchronization of two directly modulated semiconductor lasers with negative delayed optoelectronic feedback is investigated and this scheme is found to be useful for efficient bidirectional communication between the lasers. A symmetric bidirectional coupling is identified as a suitable method for isochronal synchronization of such lasers. The optimum values of coupling and feedback strength that can provide maximum quality of synchronization are identified. This method is successfully employed for encoding/decoding both analog and digital messages. The importance of a symmetric coupling is demonstrated by studying the variation of decoding efficiency with respect to asymmetric coupling.     

The frequency noise and spectral linewidth in semiconductor ring lasers

Numerical analyses for power spectral density of frequency noise (FN) and spectral linewidth in monolithic semiconductor ring laser (SRL) operating in the bistable unidirectional regime are performed in this paper. The Langevin noise sources for electric field and carrier density fluctuations are also taken into account in the frequency-domain theoretical model. The influences of several important physical parameters on the FN properties and laser linewidth are clearly demonstrated, including the injection current, linewidth enhancement factor and the particular backscattering coefficient. Due to the particular backscattering in SRLs, the calculated linewidths are relatively higher than that from the conventional Henry formula. The laser linewidth shows an exponential relationship with the backscattering strength.     

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.     

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 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.     

半导体激光器混沌输出的延时特征和带宽

外腔延时特征和带宽是影响混沌激光应用的两个重要参量.本文将一个单路光反馈的半导体激光器输出的激光部分地注入到另一个双路滤波光反馈的半导体激光器中,从而构成一个具有外光注入的双路滤波光反馈半导体激光器系统,即主从激光器系统,用于抑制混沌激光的延时特征并研究其带宽.数值研究了外光注入系数、反馈强度、抽运因子和滤波器带宽对系统输出混沌激光的延时特征的影响,然后将该系统对延时特征的抑制效果和具有外光注入的单路光反馈半导体激光器系统、具有外光注入的双路光反馈半导体激光器系统、具有外光注入的单路滤波光反馈半导体激光器系统以及无光注入双路滤波光反馈半导体激光器系统进行对比和分析,结果表明本文提出的方案对延时特征的抑制效果最好.然后在本文提出的具有外光注入的双路滤波光反馈半导体激光器系统中,延时特征被有效抑制的参数条件下研究系统输出混沌激光的带宽,结果表明,通过适当选择参数的取值,本文提出的方案可以提高系统输出混沌激光的带宽.