Asymmetric noise sensitivity of pulse trains in an excitable microlaser with delayed optical feedback

作者:Terrien Soizic*; Krauskopf Bernd; Broderick Neil G R; Andreoli Louis; Selmi Foued; Braive Remy; Beaudoin Gregoire; Sagnes Isabelle; Barbay Sylvain
来源:Physical Review A, 2017, 96(4): 043863.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevA.96.043863

摘要

A semiconductor micropillar laser with delayed optical feedback is considered. In the excitable regime, we show that a single optical perturbation can trigger a train of pulses that is sustained for a finite duration. The distribution of the pulse train duration exhibits an exponential behavior characteristic of a noise-induced process driven by uncorrelated white noise present in the system. The comparison of experimental observations with theoretical and numerical analysis of a minimal model yields excellent agreement. Importantly, the random switch-off process takes place between two attractors of different nature: an equilibrium and a periodic orbit. Our analysis shows that there is a small time window during which the pulsations are very sensitive to noise, and this explains the observed strong bias toward switch-off. These results raise the possibility of all optical control of the pulse train duration that may have an impact for practical applications in photonics and may also apply to the dynamics of other noise-driven excitable systems with delayed feedback.

  • 出版日期2017-10-27