Experimental Investigations of Time-Delay Signature Concealment in Chaotic External Cavity VCSELs Subject to Variable Optical Polarization Angle of Feedback

Time-delay (TD) signature concealment in a chaotic vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is studied experimentally. The VCSEL is subject to variable optical polarization angle of feedback along with variable optical feedback strength and bias current. The TD signature concealment is determined through the use of autocorrelation and information theory-based permutation entropy functions. It is found that the TD signature is concealed at low feedback of strength of order -18 dB. At moderate feedback strength, the TD signature is sensitive to the rotation of optical polarization angle of feedback with TD concealment being observed for polarization angles in the range from 45° to 90°.