Spectral filtering effects in synchronized semiconductor laser networks open site


Date: Mar 4, 2016

Bidirectional coupling of semiconductor lasers (SLs) through optical injection is a well established method to generate chaotic signals which, through their dynamics, may give rise to several applications from sensing to monitoring and from communication to security. Recent works have shown the capability of joint behavior or complete synchrony of mutually coupled networks of SLs. In these works, the coupling architecture, the operational conditions and the properties of the active elements determine the types of dynamics of the emitted optical signals, through which the network can potentially be synchronized. In this experimental work, a network of mutually coupled semiconductor lasers has been synchronized through chaotic optical signals that spectrally extend over 10GHz. The synchronization among the lasers that participate in the coupled network is affected, besides the structural and operational conditions, by the signals' bandwidth that circulates optically. Here we show that the synchronization performance of the detected signals when monitoring the network nodes through optoelectronic conversion is in direct dependence on the signal bandwidth. Smaller signal bandwidth at the GHz range may result in synchronization with cross-correlation values over 0.97 in most of the SL nodes, rejecting higher frequencies that are not optimally synchronized. Another source of improving the synchronization of the network that has been recorded in this experimental setup is by harnessing the de-synchronization events that are almost always apparent, especially when emitted signals include power dropouts.

Application: Others