Dynamical properties of a laser diode with optical feedback from an external high-finesse resonator

The effect of coupling optically a laser diode to a high-finesse external resonator is described. The authors take into account multiple roundtrips in the external cavity and the carrier finite life-time in the diode laser. The rate equations are studied analytically. Steady states are obtained and their stability determined. Numerical resolution of the equations leads to predicting self-pulsing modes of operation. To the authors´ knowledge, this is the first numerical study of the laser diode rate equations with an infinite number of delay terms. The main result is a stabilization effect due to the high-finesse cavity; neither deterministic chaos nor complicated bifurcation schemes have been found