@Article{Supelec810,
author = {Martin Virte and Krassimir Panajotov and Hugo Thienpont and Marc Sciamanna},
title = {{Deterministic polarization chaos from a laser diode}},
journal = {Nature Photonics},
year = {2012},
volume = {7},
pages = {60-65},
month = {nov},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.286},
doi = {10.1038/nphoton.2012.286},
abstract = {Fifty years after the invention of the laser diode, and forty
years after the butterfly effect signified the unpredictability
of deterministic chaos, it is commonly believed that a laser
diode behaves like a damped nonlinear oscillator and cannot be
driven into chaotic operation without additional forcing or
parameter modulation. Here, we counter that belief and report the
first example of a free-running laser diode generating chaos. The
underlying physics comprises a nonlinear coupling between two
elliptically polarized modes in a vertical-cavity
surface-emitting laser. We identify chaos in experimental time
series and show, theoretically, the bifurcations leading to
single- and double-scroll attractors with characteristics similar
to Lorenz chaos. The reported polarization chaos resembles
noise-driven mode hopping, but shows opposite statistical
properties. Our findings open up new research areas for the
creation of controllable and integrated sources of optical chaos.}
}