Frequency-locked chaotic opto-RF oscillator

TL;DR

This paper investigates a driven dual-frequency laser-based opto-RF oscillator in a chaotic regime, demonstrating frequency-locking and bounded-phase chaos, with experimental evidence showing phase stability transfer despite chaos.

Contribution

It introduces the experimental and numerical study of a frequency-locked chaotic opto-RF oscillator with controlled parameters, revealing a new synchronization regime.

Findings

Frequency-locking occurs despite chaotic oscillations.

Bounded-phase chaos is isolated through parameter control.

Long-term phase stability of the master oscillator is transferred.

Abstract

A driven opto-RF oscillator, consisting of a dual-frequency laser (DFL) submitted to frequency-shifted feedback, is studied experimentally and numerically in a chaotic regime. Precise control of the reinjection strength and detuning permits to isolate a parameter region of bounded-phase chaos, where the opto-RF oscillator is frequency-locked to the master oscillator, in spite of chaotic phase and intensity oscillations. Robust experimental evidence of this synchronization regime is found and phase noise spectra allows to compare phase-locking and bounded-phase chaos regimes. In particular, it is found that the long-term phase stability of the master oscillator is well transferred to the opto-RF oscillator even in the chaotic regime.