High-level dynamics in semiconductor lasers: Regimes and applications

While solitary single-mode semiconductor lasers normally emit continuous-wave radiation, their rich nonlinear dynamics, such as periodic oscillations and chaos, can be excited through various perturbation schemes. These highly complex dynamical behaviors can be well controlled by properly adjusting the experimentally accessible parameters of perturbations. The ability to control the dynamical behavior of semiconductor lasers, together with the profound dynamical characteristics, not only provides valuable opportunities for the study of nonlinear laser dynamics but also opens up great possibilities for a wide range of novel applications.