Nonlinear Dynamics of Semiconductor Lasers Subject to Optical Feedback

TL;DR

This thesis explores the complex behaviors of semiconductor lasers with optical feedback, aiming to understand, control, and utilize their instabilities for applications like secure communications and microwave oscillations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the mechanisms of laser instabilities and proposes techniques to suppress or harness these dynamics for practical uses.

Findings

Enhanced understanding of laser instability mechanisms

Proposed methods to suppress undesirable dynamics

Potential applications in secure communications and microwave generation

Abstract

The three goals of this PhD thesis are to improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the dynamical instabilities observed in semiconductor lasers subject to external optical feedback, to propose a technique to suppress these instabilities and finally to take advantage of them, for instance for secure communications or to generate microwave time-periodic oscillations.