Optimized properties of chaos from a laser diode

We perform an experimental parametric study of the chaos generated by a laser diode subjected to phase-conjugate feedback. In addition to the typical figure of merit, i.e., chaos bandwidth, the corresponding spectral flatness and permutation entropy at delay is analyzed. Our experimental observations reveal that the chaos can be generated with a bandwidth of ≈29 GHz, a spectral flatness up to 0.75, and a permutation entropy at delay of up to 0.99. These optimized performances are maintained over a large range of parameters and have not been achieved in the conventional optical feedback configuration. Interestingly, reducing the pump current reduces the chaos bandwidth while keeping the spectral flatness and the permutation entropy at delay the same as observed for increased pump current. Our experimental findings are consistent with the presented numerical simulations produced using the Lang-Kobayashi model.