Nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor lasers subject to external optical injection

Summary form only given. External optical injection of coherent light into a semiconductor laser has received considerable attention recently. Many of the basic elements of nonlinear dynamics, such as a period-doubling route to chaos, have been observed in master-slave systems. This term refers to the situation in which the injection source is undisturbed by the light from the injected laser. We have recently reported on a new method of presenting optical spectra of the slave laser. Consecutively sampled spectra as the injection power is increased while the frequency detuning between lasers is fixed, are plotted next to one another with color representing intensity. We find variations including islands of periodic oscillation within the chaotic regions.