High-order external cavity modes and restabilization of a laser diode subject to a phase-conjugate feedback

We experimentally report the sequence of bifurcations destabilizing and restabilizing a laser diode with phase-conjugate feedback when the feedback rate is increased. Specifically, we successively observe the initial steady state, undamped relaxation oscillations, quasi-periodicity, chaos, and oscillating solutions at harmonics up to 13 times the external cavity frequency but also the restabilization to a steady state. The experimental results are qualitatively well reproduced by a model that accounts for the time the light takes to penetrate the phase-conjugate mirror. The theory points out that the system restabilizes through a Hopf bifurcation whose frequency is a harmonic of the external cavity frequency.