Experimental and theoretical study of wide hysteresis cycles in 1550 nm VCSELs under optical injection

We present experimental results of output power bistability in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser under optical injection induced by frequency detuning or power variation of the master laser. An ultra-wide hysteresis cycle of 3.7 nm (473.3 GHz) is achieved through frequency detuning, which is more than 11 times wider than that achieved in the state-of-the-art (37 GHz). Furthermore, the width of injection power induced hysteresis cycle we achieved is as large as 7.3 dB. We theoretically analyzed the hysteresis cycles based on standard optical injection locking rate equations including the interference effect of master laser reflection and found excellent agreement with experimental results.