Temporal dynamics of semiconductor lasers with optical feedback

Abstract

We measure the temporal evolution of the intensity of an edge emitting semiconductor laser with delayed optical feedback for time spans ranging from 4.5 to 65 ns with a time resolution from 16 to 230 ps, respectively. Spectrally resolved streak camera measurements show that the fast pulsing of the total intensity is a consequence of the time delay and multimode operation of the laser. We experimentally observe that the instabilities at low frequency are generated by the interaction among different modes of the laser.