Dynamic regimes in semiconductor lasers subject to incoherent optical feedback

The dynamics of a semiconductor laser subject to polarization-rotated (incoherent) optical feedback in the long cavity limit has been numerically and experimentally investigated. The results show that the induced dynamics can be grouped into four regimes (stable, chaotic, pulsed, and two state) and that the transverse-magnetic mode of the laser never lases in the ring cavity configuration studied. In addition, unlike the earlier short-cavity work, the boundaries between the regimes in the long-cavity case were found to be independent of the external-cavity delay time.