We present a study of the time-scale at which current induced polarization switching (PS) in VCSELs takes place. To this end, we measure the step and frequency response in three different types of PS VCSELs, showing that the dominating time-scales differ strongly from one VCSEL structure to another. We characterize the current-driven polarization modulation frequency response by measuring the critical modulation amplitude necessary to steadily force PS back and forth across the PS point as a function of the modulation frequency. The polarization step response is obtained by measuring the stochastic properties of the delay between the applied current step and the resulting change in the polarization, for various values of the initial and final current. For the studied proton-implanted VCSEL the polarization response is characterized by the thermal relaxation time. The measured polarization response of the air-post VCSEL also shows a clear signature of thermal effects, however PS is not at all inhibited at higher frequencies. In the oxide-confined device studied, there seems to be no thermal influence on the PS at all. Comparing the frequency response and the step response measurements done on the same device leads to similar conclusions and allows us to crosscheck our results. In all cases, we are able to reproduce our experimental findings using a rate-equation model, where PS is supposed to be induced by changes in the gain balance between the two polarization modes.
Low Frequency Fluctuations (LFF) are defined by an abrupt (1 ns)
drop-out of the emitted power followed by a gradual (50 ns)
build-up of the power until the next drop-out event, when the
laser with feedback is biased close to threshold. In this paper
experimental and theoretical results on a vertical-cavity
surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with polarized optical feedback are
presented. Experimentally, we observe single-mode low frequency
dynamics when the VCSEL is biased below the solitary laser
threshold. We can choose one of the two typical polarization modes
(PM) of the VCSEL to be lasing, by an adequate choice of the
polarization direction in the external cavity. Our theoretical
analysis is based on a model developed by Loiko et al. which is an
extension of the Spin-Flip model. We confirm the appearance of
single-mode LFF and also reproduce the response of the orthogonal
polarization mode above the solitary laser threshold, both
deterministically and in presence of noise. This analysis shows
that aiming the feedback at the passive mode (in absence of
feedback) forces the active mode to react with short pulses, due
to parasitic carrier theft, while targeting the feedback at the
active mode induces a smaller response from the orthogonal
polarization mode. This difference in response allows us to
conclude that the secondary polarization does not play an
essential role in the LFF dynamics.
Characterization of noise-induced phase synchronization (NIPS) in
a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is reported. An optimal amount of white, gaussian noise induces an effective phase entrainment between the polarized laser emission and the periodic pump modulation. The phenomenon is characterized through suitable indicators as the average frequency of the output signal and the diffusion coefficient of the relative phase. Their values are roughly independent on different waveforms of periodic input, provided that a simple condition for the amplitudes is satisfied. The experimental results are compared with a Langevin model, Monte-Carlo simulations and analytical solutions of a Master equation for the phase dynamics.
Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers have shown similar sensitivity to optical feedback as conventional edge-emitting
lasers, but new interesting phenomena can be observed due to the coexistence of two linearly polarized (LP) fundamental modes. We report on new dynamic effects in VCSELs induced by polarization insensitive optical feedback from a distant mirror, namely the appearance of low frequency random hops between the two LP modes in a nominally stable LP solitary laser. This behavior resembles that of the mode hopping in a solitary VCSEL close to its polarization switching point. However, a careful observation shows that superimposed on the low frequency polarization mode-hopping, fast oscillatory behavior at a frequency close to the external-cavity frequency appears. A complementary study of the polarization
resolved optical spectra reveals jumps between several peaks identified as external cavity modes. We analyze the dynamics using a two-mode rate equation model with delay and noise. We numerically observe polarization mode-hopping in good qualitative agreement with our experimental findings. In particular, the low-frequency hops are complemented with fast oscillations at a frequency close to the external-cavity one and the calculated optical spectra reveal the presence of a limited number of ECMs in each LP-comb. This indicates that the dynamics is created by the interplay of noise, bistability
and optical feedback. We will further discuss the effect of noise on delayed bistable laser systems in the context of new dynamical concepts, like coherence resonance and stochastic resonance.
We present an experimental and rate-equation based theoretical study of the current-driven polarization modulation properties of VCSELs. In some VCSELs abrupt polarization switching (PS) between two polarization modes is observed at a particular value of the pump current. We investigate the dynamics and the associated dominating time scales of PS as these features are strongly linked with the underlying physical mechanism causing the PS. To this end we measure both for gain- and index-guided VCSELs the critical modulation amplitude necessary to steadily force PS back and forth across the PS point as a function of the modulation frequency. This yields the current-driven polarization modulation frequency response, which we compare with the thermal frequency response of the studied devices. The dynamic behavior turns out to be strikingly different for the different VCSEL types. Thermal effects only play a minor role in the PS in our index-guided VCSELs, while they really seem to lie at the origin of PS in the gain-guided VCSELs. By implementing this in a rate-equation based theoretical model of the current-driven polarization modulation properties of VCSELs we are able to explain the peculiarities of the measured response curves and to reproduce the experimental findings.
We present an experimental study of a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting laser with polarized optical feedback. The system displays single-mode Low Frequency Fluctuations (LFF) for a wide range of pump current. Above the solitary laser threshold we observe a new kind of couple-mode dynamics with a leading LFF behavior in one polarization and an induced pulsed emission in the orthogonal one.
We present an experimental and rate-equation based theoretical study of the current-driven polarization modulation properties of VCSELs. In such lasers a high-contrast polarization flip is often observed at a particular value of the pump current. When modulating the current around the polarization switching value, we measure the critical modulation amplitude necessary to force synchronized back-and-forward polarization flips, as a function of the modulation frequency. This yields the polarization modulation frequency response. For a proton-implanted VCSEL the shape of the measured response curve is characterized by time constants that are very long compared with the usual time scales of laser dynamics (such as photon and carrier lifetimes), and compatible with the measured thermal relaxation time. Indeed, both the polarization modulation and the thermal frequency response curves show a cut-off frequency of about 90kHz, independent of the particular value of the switching current. In the frequency response curve of an air-post VCSEL one clearly sees remnants of the thermal influence on the switching. However, one cannot say that a thermal cut-off inhibits polarization switching above a certain modulation frequency. Notwithstanding the difference in impact of thermal effects depending on the type of device under study, our results indicate that it is necessary to incorporate a temperature-dependent variable in realistic models describing the dynamical polarization properties of VCSELs.
Among macular diseases, choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is one of the most common causes of visual loss, especially in the form associated with age-related macular degeneration and pathologic myopia. Research on these diseases has recently evaluated new treatment modalities that use laser light differently; among these, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been introduced in the clinical practice, allowing us to expand the possibility of reducing visual loss in patients affected by CNV. With PDT, a photosensitizer (verteporfin, VisudyneTM) is injected intravenously, and it selectively binds to new vessels; low-power laser light exposure then activates the drug, leading to oxidative damage of the endothelium and new vessels thrombosis. Yet, other therapies, such as transpupillary termotherapy, or the use of photocoagulation to cause feeder-vessel occlusion, could proof effective, but they need further investigation.
We present an accurate experimental characterization of the dynamical properties of polarization switching (PS) in single transverse and longitudinal mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). When a VCSEL is driven with a constant current at its polarization switching point, it makes random jumps between its two linear polarization states. This phenomenon is called mode-hopping. The permanence times in the two polarization states show an exponentially decreasing distribution, according to Arrhenius? law. The average permanence time varies over several orders of magnitude depending on the relative difference between threshold and switching current. We have performed a statistical experimental characterization of the residence times of mode hopping VCSELs for both proton implanted and oxide confined samples, and find our results to be in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions from a novel intensity rate equation model.
KEYWORDS: Information operations, Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, Binary data, Polarization, Interference (communication), Signal detection, Signal to noise ratio, Amplitude modulation, Modulation, Signal processing
VCSELs present peculiar features like the emission in several transverse modes and
polarization fluctuations. In some critical current regions, these lasers can emit
in two different states of polarization and/or transverse pattern for the same value
of the pump current. The laser dynamics in such narrow bistable regions is
characterized by noise-induced jumps between the two emission states. A
polarization and/or a spatial filter allows one to observe the random jumps as light
intensity hops. In this work, we evidence a novel phenomenon which is observed in
these conditions, that we have called Noise Assisted Binary Information Transmission
(NABIT): the addition of noise to the pump current up to an optimal value leads to a
strong improvement of the transmission quality, measured by the Bit Error Rate. These results
represent the first experimental evidence of Aperiodic Stochastic Resonance. We
present analytic calculations in good agreement with the measurements. We also
analyse the possible application to optical communications and compare it to a
standard amplitude modulation scheme.
We report the evidence a novel phenomenon which is observed in VCSELs working in a bistable region, that we have called Noise Assisted Binary Information Transmission: the addition of noise to the pump current up to an optimal value leads to a strong improvement of the transmission quality, measured by the Bit Error Rate. We analyze different indicators to define the output string and the comparison of the input with the output signal is eventually reduced to a comparison of binary strings and can treated by means of standard methods of information theory. These results represent the first experimental evidence of Aperiodic Stochastic Resonance. We analyze the possible application to optical communications and compare it to a standard amplitude modulation scheme.
We show experimentally that semiconductor lasers with a double cavity or with an injected signal behave dynamically as excitable media. We perform experimental tests in order to characterize excitable pulses. We also present experimental evidence of coherent resonance as the amount of noise is increased in the system.
The experimental evidence of Stochastic Resonance in the polarized emission of Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers is given. We report for the first time in an experimental work a complete characterization of the phenomenon based on the residence times probability density. We give also the evidence of the bona fide resonance, clarifying this recently debated subject.
By increasing the Fresnel number of F of a ring cavity with photorefractive gain, the transition from a low F regime, where few modes compete in a regular or irregular sequence, to a high F regime, where many modes oscillate simultaneously giving rise to spatio-temporal chaos is shown. The transverse field is characterized by an increasing number of topological defects, whose mean separation is related to the spatial correlation length of the field.
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