Square-wave oscillations in edge-emitting diode lasers with polarization-rotated optical feedback

摘要

The square-wave response of edge-emitting diode lasers subject to a delayed polarization-rotated optical feedback is studied experimentally and theoretically. Square-wave self-modulated polarization intensities of a period close to twice the delay τ of the feedback gradually appear through a sequence of bifurcations starting with a Hopf bifurcation (Gavrielides et al, Proc. SPIE 6115, to appear, 2006). In Gavrielides et al (submitted, 2006), square-wave solutions were determined analytically from the laser equations in the limit of large τ. A condition on the laser parameters was derived explaining why square-wave oscillations are preferentially observed for sufficiently large feedback strength. In this paper, we concentrate on the relaxation oscillations that always appear at each intensity jump between the plateaus of the square-wave. We show analytically that if the feedback strength is progressively decreased, a bifurcation to sustained relaxation oscillations is possible for one of the two plateaus.