Self-pulsing and fast excitable response in micropillar and nano-lasers with saturable absorber

We present recent experimental and theoretical results on the nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor micro and nano-lasers. First, fast excitable, neuron-like, dynamics is experimentally evidenced in a micropillar laser with intracavity saturable absorber with fast response times in the 200ps range. We study also the refractory time in this system and show the existence of a relative refractory period, analogue to what is found in neurons. Second, we propose a scheme for achieving self-pulsing in nanolasers based on asymmetrically coupled cavities and study theoretically its implementation in a photonic-crystal based system. Short pulses with duration as short as 35ps with multi-GHz repetition rates are found, as well as a region giving rise to a chaotic dynamics. We also predict a parameter region where the self-pulsing bifurcation can lead to ultra-fast excitable dynamics in such a nanolaser.