Rogue waves in injected semiconductor lasers with current modulation: role of the modulation phase

Area of Science:

• Nonlinear optics
• Semiconductor laser dynamics
• Complex systems

Background:

• Semiconductor lasers with continuous-wave optical injection exhibit complex behaviors, including chaotic oscillations.
• Extreme intensity pulses, identified as optical rogue waves (RWs), can emerge in the chaotic regime.
• Direct current modulation can suppress these RWs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To numerically analyze the statistics of optical rogue waves (RWs) in semiconductor lasers under current modulation.
• To investigate the influence of modulation phase on RW occurrence when suppression is incomplete.
• To compare the effects of slow versus fast modulation frequencies on RW probability.

Main Methods:

• Numerical analysis of semiconductor laser models.
• Simulation of continuous-wave optical injection.
• Systematic variation of current modulation parameters (frequency and phase).

Main Results:

• RW probability strongly depends on modulation phase when not fully suppressed.
• Slow modulation (fmod < fro) creates a "safe" phase window, with extreme RWs near its boundaries.
• Fast modulation (fmod > fro) lacks a safe window but shows phase-dependent RW likelihood.

Conclusions:

• Modulation phase is a critical factor in controlling RW occurrence in semiconductor lasers.
• Understanding phase-dependent RW statistics is crucial for their suppression or prediction.
• Findings may apply to other systems exhibiting extreme events under external forcing.