Experimental evidence of van der Pol–Fitzhugh–Nagumo dynamics in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Stéphane Barland (1, 2) , Oreste Piro (2) , Massimo Giudici (1, 2) , Jorge R. Tredicce (1, 2) , Salvatore Balle (2)

1 INLN - Institut Non Linéaire de Nice Sophia-Antipolis
2 IMEDEA - Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avancats

Thermo-optical pulsing in semiconductor amplifiers is experimentally shown to correspond to a very common excitable scenario (the van der Pol–Fitzhugh–Nagumo system). Self-sustained oscillations appear in the sequence predicted by this simple dynamical model as we change either the injection level or the bias current. Periodic modulation of these parameters leads to the characteristic phase-locking structure. Furthermore, coherence resonance is observed when external noise is added to the system.

Mots clés: semiconductor optical amplifiers; nonlinear dynamical systems; nonlinear optics

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Stéphane Barland, Oreste Piro, Massimo Giudici, Jorge R. Tredicce, Salvatore Balle. Experimental evidence of van der Pol–Fitzhugh–Nagumo dynamics in semiconductor optical amplifiers. Physical Review E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 2003, 68, pp.036209. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.68.036209⟩. ⟨hal-00016764⟩