Chaotic time-delay signature suppression in lasers using phase-controlled dual optical feedback

Abstract

We experimentally study a semiconductor laser subject to two optical feedbacks in a free space setup. We show that the time delay signature, manifesting itself in the chaotic output intensity, can be better suppressed than in a laser with single feedback. We demonstrate that the control of the feedback phase is essential to suppress the time delay signature, in contrast to the one-delay case, and that the feedback phase also impacts the chaotic bandwidth. By optimizing the feedback phase the time delay signature can be reduced by a factor of 2 while maintaining a large chaotic bandwidth.