paper

Coherent pulse interactions in mode-locked semiconductor lasers

arXiv:2412.15992 · doi:10.1016/j.chaos.2025.116244

Abstract

We study the dynamics of multipulse solutions in mode-locked lasers in presence of time-delayed feedback stemming, e.g., from reflections upon optical elements, and carrier dynamics. We demonstrate that the dynamics of such a high dimensional problem can be successfully described by some effective equations of motion for the pulses' phases and positions. Analyzing the reduced vector field permits disclosing a highly complex dynamics where coherent and incoherent interactions compete. The latter lead to regimes in which pulses can be equidistant or non-equidistant and also have different phase relations. Multi-stability between regimes is also observed as well as emerging limit cycles and global heteroclinic bifurcations in phase space.

15 pages, 12 figures, close to published version

Coherent pulse interactions in mode-locked semiconductor lasers · wovepaper