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Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Shaping the Amplitude and Phase of Laser Beams by Using a Phase-only Spatial Light Modulator
Published on: January 28, 2019
Amplitude-phase coupling drives chimera states in globally coupled laser networks
Fabian Böhm1, Anna Zakharova1, Eckehard Schöll1
1Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
For a globally coupled network of semiconductor lasers with delayed optical feedback, we demonstrate the existence of chimera states. The domains of coherence and incoherence that are typical for chimera states are found to exist for the amplitude, phase, and inversion of the coupled lasers. These chimera states defy several of the previously established existence criteria. While chimera states in phase oscillators generally demand nonlocal coupling, large system sizes, and specially prepared initial conditions, we find chimera states that are stable for global coupling in a network of only four coupled lasers for random initial conditions. The existence is linked to a regime of multistability between the synchronous steady state and asynchronous periodic solutions. We show that amplitude-phase coupling, a concept common in different fields, is necessary for the formation of the chimera states.
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