All-optical controlled switching between time-periodic square waves in diode lasers with delayed feedback

We investigate the square-wave (SW) self-modulation output of an edge-emitting diode laser subject to polarization rotated optical feedback in detail, both experimentally and theoretically. Our experimental results show that the 2 tau-periodic SW, where tau is the delay of the feedback, coexists with other SW oscillations of shorter periods. We have found that these new SWs are specific harmonics of the fundamental one and their periods are P-n similar or equal to 2 tau/(1 + 2n), where n is an integer. Numerical simulations and analytical studies of laser rate equations confirm the multistability of SW solutions. By adding a weak conventional optical feedback, we show that the switching between the different periodic SWs can be easily controlled. The delay of this feedback control is the key parameter determining the harmonic that is stabilized. Numerical simulations corroborate the effectiveness of our experimental control scheme. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America