Dynamical behavior of mutually-coupled semiconductor lasers: modelling and simulations

Abstract

Summary form only given. The dynamical behavior of two weakly mutually-coupled semiconductor lasers has been recently studied both experimentally and numerically. The main results predict that two different lasers may synchronize. The simplest synchronization mechanism is such that one laser is forced to oscillate at the relaxation oscillation frequency of the other laser. On the other hand, experiments on strongly mutually-coupled semiconductor lasers show the occurrence of synchronized low frequency fluctuations (LFFs) similar to the ones observed in a diode laser subjected to optical feedback. We numerically study the dynamical behavior of two mutually coupled semiconductor lasers under different coupling strengths and detunings. We model the two lasers with the single mode rate equations with extra terms accounting for the delayed light injected by the other laser. For simplicity, we take identical parameters for the two lasers, although for slightly different parameters we observe the same qualitative behaviors. We observe that for strong coupling and zero detuning both lasers exhibit synchronized LFFs.