Different regimes of low-frequency fluctuations in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Abstract

A numerical study of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with optical feedback demonstrates the existence of two different types of low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs). The competition of two equally dominant polarization modes characterizes one type of LFF, while the other type is characterized by power drops in a dominant polarization mode and power bursts in the orthogonal depressed mode. We characterize and compare these two types of LFFs on the basis of their polarization properties and their dependency on the laser parameters. We show furthermore that a transition is possible from one type of LFF to the other, depending on the values of the linear anisotropies of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser cavity.