Chaos in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback: theory and experiment

The authors present a detailed theoretical and experimental investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of a semiconductor laser with optical feedback. The results show that the coherence collapsed state is a chaotic attractor and that chaos is reached for increasing feedback level through a quasi-periodic route interrupted by frequency locking. Furthermore, the coexistence of two attractors, associated with the same external cavity mode, but having different relaxation oscillation frequencies, is demonstrated and explained