Extreme intensity pulses in a semiconductor laser with a short external cavity

We present a numerical study of the pulses displayed by a semiconductor laser with optical feedback in the short-cavity regime, such that the external cavity round-trip time is shorter than the laser relaxation oscillation period. For certain parameters there are occasional pulses, which are high enough to be considered extreme events. We characterize the bifurcation scenario that gives rise to such extreme pulses and study the influence of noise. We demonstrate intermittency when the extreme pulses appear and hysteresis when the attractor that sustains these pulses is destroyed. We also show that this scenario is robust under the inclusion of noise. © 2013 American Physical Society.This work was supported in part by Grant No. FA8655-12-1-2140 from EOARD US, Grant No. FIS2012-37655-C02-01 from the Spanish MCI, and Grant No. 2009 SGR 1168 from the Generalitat de Catalunya. C. Masoller acknowledges support from the ICREA Academia programe. J.Z.M. acknowledges support from FISICOS Grant No. FIS2007-60327 of the Spanish MCI and INTENSE@COSYP Grant No. FIS2012-30634 of the FEDER. J.A.R. acknowledges support from Grant No. BES-2008-003398 and thanks the UPC for hospitality during his visit, during which part of this work was done.Peer Reviewe

Suppression of deterministic and stochastic extreme desynchronization events using anticipated synchronization

We numerically show that extreme events induced by parameter mismatches or noise in coupled oscillatory systems can be anticipated and suppressed before they actually occur. We show this in a main system unidirectionally coupled to an auxiliary system subject to a negative delayed feedback. Each system consists of two electronic oscillators coupled in a master-slave configuration. Extreme events are observed in this coupled system as large and sporadic desynchronization events. Under certain conditions, the auxiliary system can predict the dynamics of the main system. We use this to efficiently suppress the extreme events by applying a direct corrective reset to the main system. © 2014 American Physical Society.This work was supported by MINECO (Spain), Comunitat Autònoma de les Illes Balears, FEDER, and the European Commission under the INTENSE@COSYP Project No. FIS2012-30634.Peer Reviewe

Controlling the likelihood of rogue waves in an optically injected semiconductor laser via direct current modulation

Extreme and rare events are nowadays the object of intensive research. Rogue waves are extreme waves that appear suddenly in many natural systems, even in apparently calm situations. Here we study numerically the rogue wave dynamics in an optically injected semiconductor laser with external periodic forcing that is implemented via direct modulation of the laser pump current. In the region of optical injection parameters where the laser intensity is chaotic and occasional ultrahigh pulses occur, our aim is to control the system by applying a weak modulation. We find that for an adequate range of frequency and amplitude parameters, the modulation can completely suppress the extreme pulses. We also show that the interplay between modulation and an external source of noise can significantly modify their probability of occurrence. These results can motivate a range of experimental and theoretical investigations in other natural systems. © 2014 American Physical Society.This research was supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through projects FIS2012-37655-C02-01 and FIS2011-29734-C02-01, the Air Force Office Scientific Research through project FA-8655-10-1-3075, and by the Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR), Generalitat de Catalunya, through project 2009 SGR 1168. C.M. also acknowledges the ICREA foundation for financial support. J.Z.M. acknowledges the support by Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) under the INTENSE @COSYP project FIS2012-30634.Peer Reviewe

Rogue waves in optically injected lasers: Origin, predictability, and suppression

Rogue waves are devastating extreme events that occur in many natural systems, and a lot of work has focused on predicting and understanding their origin. In optically injected semiconductor lasers rogue waves are rare ultra-high pulses that sporadically occur in the laser chaotic output intensity. Here we show that these optical rogue waves can be predicted with long anticipation time, that they are generated by a crisis-like process, and that noise can be employed to either enhance or suppress their probability of occurrence. By providing a good understanding of the mechanisms triggering and controlling the rogue waves, our results can contribute to improve the performance of injected lasers and can also enable new experiments to test if these mechanisms are also involved in other natural systems where rogue waves have been observed. © 2013 American Physical Society.J.Z.M. acknowledges useful discussions with M. Matias and support from the grant FISICOS of the Spanish MCI (FIS2007-60327). J.R.R.L. acknowledges Brazilian FACEPE-CNPQ-Pronex-APQ0630-1.05-06. C.M. acknowledges partial support from EOARD US (FA-8655-10-1-3075), the Spanish MCI (FIS2009-13360), the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009 SGR 1168), and the ICREA Academia program.Peer Reviewe