title: High-frequency chaotic dynamics enabled by optical phase-conjugation.
abstract: Wideband chaos is of interest for applications such as random number generation or encrypted communications, which typically use optical feedback in a semiconductor laser. Here, we show that replacing conventional optical feedback with phase-conjugate feedback improves the chaos bandwidth. In the range of achievable phase-conjugate mirror reflectivities, the bandwidth increase reaches 27% when compared with feedback from a conventional mirror. Experimental measurements of the time-resolved frequency dynamics on nanosecond time-scales show that the bandwidth enhancement is related to the onset of self-pulsing solutions at harmonics of the external-cavity frequency. In the observed regime, the system follows a chaotic itinerancy among these destabilized high-frequency external-cavity modes. The recorded features are unique to phase-conjugate feedback and distinguish it from the long-standing problem of time-delayed feedback dynamics.
authors.affiliation: LMOPS, OPTEL (Optics and Electronics Research Group), CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, 57070 METZ.|LMOPS, OPTEL (Optics and Electronics Research Group), CentraleSupélec, Université de Lorraine, 57070 METZ.
authors.forename: Émeric
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Mercier
authors.affiliation: LMOPS, OPTEL (Optics and Electronics Research Group), CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, 57070 METZ.|LMOPS, OPTEL (Optics and Electronics Research Group), CentraleSupélec, Université de Lorraine, 57070 METZ.
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wolfersberger
authors.affiliation: LMOPS, OPTEL (Optics and Electronics Research Group), CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, 57070 METZ.|LMOPS, OPTEL (Optics and Electronics Research Group), CentraleSupélec, Université de Lorraine, 57070 METZ.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sciamanna
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D054023:Lasers, Semiconductor; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D009991:Oscillometry