Effective low-dimensional dynamics of a mean-field coupled network of slow-fast spiking lasers

TL;DR

This paper presents experimental evidence that large networks of coupled semiconductor lasers exhibit low-dimensional slow-fast dynamics, with collective oscillations and chaos arising from the system's intrinsic slow-fast structure and critical manifold.

Contribution

It provides the first controlled laboratory demonstration of low-dimensional dynamics in a large laser network, linking slow-fast systems theory with experimental observations.

Findings

Large laser networks show low-dimensional mixed mode oscillations.

Dynamics originate from the system's slow-fast nature and critical manifold.

Experimental bifurcation measurements support theoretical predictions.

Abstract

Low dimensional dynamics of large networks is the focus of many theoretical works, but controlled laboratory experiments are comparatively very few. Here, we discuss experimental observations on a mean-field coupled network of hundreds of semiconductor lasers, which collectively display effectively low-dimensional mixed mode oscillations and chaotic spiking typical of slow-fast systems. We demonstrate that such a reduced dimensionality originates from the slow-fast nature of the system and of the existence of a critical manifold of the network where most of the dynamics takes place. Experimental measurement of the bifurcation parameter for different network sizes corroborate the theory.