Complicated basins in external-cavity semiconductor lasers

We demonstrate that complicated basins of attraction can occur in time-delay coupled, external-cavity semiconductor lasers. In particular, we find that there can be multiple coexisting attractors associated with low-frequency fluctuations in the laser power output, and prediction of the asymptotic attractor for specific initial conditions is practically impossible. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.