The dynamics of a broad-area vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with frequency-selective feedback supporting bistable spatial solitons is analyzed experimentally and theoretically. The transient dynamics of a switch-on of a soliton induced by an external optical pulse shows strong self-pulsing at the external-cavity round-trip time with at least ten modes excited. The numerical analysis indicates an even broader bandwidth and a transient sweep of the center frequency. It is argued that mode-locking of spatial solitons is an interesting and viable way to achieve three-dimensional, spatio-temporal self-localization and that the transients observed are preliminary indications of a transient cavity light bullet in the dynamics, though on a non negligible background.

Date Published: 27 April 2010
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7720, Semiconductor Lasers and Laser Dynamics IV, 772007 (27 April 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.854039

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7720:
Semiconductor Lasers and Laser Dynamics IV
Krassimir Panajotov; Marc Sciamanna; Angel A. Valle; Rainer Michalzik, Editor(s)