A Global Study of the Influence of Optical Feedback on a Semiconductor Laser Diode

It is well known that a semiconductor laser diode with optical feedback can show both stable (CW) and unstable (chaotic) modes of behavior. The optical output is governed by three different parameters, namely the injection current, feedback strength and optical feedback delay time. In this work, we present a detailed numerical study of the route to chaos as the feedback strength is varied for a laser diode having arbitrary injection current and external cavity length. The results are presented as a 3D phase diagram where the x-and y-axes correspond to the injection current and optical feedback delay time and the z-axis to feedback strength. This allows a global study of the route to chaos and extends the 2D results obtained by arbitrarily fixing one parameter and allowing the two other to vary.