Semiconductor lasers. Stability, instability and chaos. (Q425249)

This is a comprehensive state-of-the-art book covering general mathematical and physical aspects of processes relevant to optical semiconductor lasers with applications focused on laser metrology, chaotic communications including cryptography, and chaotic random number generation. The text, written in almost 500 pages, is divided into 14 chapters, an appendix on details of nonlinear chaotic systems, chaotic data analysis, and chaos control and synchronization. Each of the chapters is followed by an extensive list of references ranging from basic historical ones to the most up-to-date sources. The fact that this issue is the third edition of the book tells about its importance concerning both the professional researchers and graduate students in the field of semiconductor lasers. The first three chapters cover the introductory elements of chaos and lasers, historical perspectives of chaos in semiconductor lasers, chaos in laser systems and related models with theoretical backgrounds with Maxwell-Bloch and Lorentz-Haken equations. Here one finds details on laser oscillation conditions, derivations of rate equations, stability analysis, Langevin noises, modulation characteristics and waveguide models. The theory of optical feedbacks and their dynamics in semiconductor laser media is fully elaborated in Chapters 4--7. This includes the linear and nonlinear stability analyses for different feedback processes, and formation, presence, and effects of chaos in considered laser configurations. More on instabilities and chaos in various semiconductor laser structures is given in Chapter 8 dealing with models of multimode lasers, self-pulsating lasers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, broad-area lasers, laser arrays, and quantum-dot and quantum cascade lasers. Chaos control and stabilization of semiconductor lasers is treated in Chapters 9 and 10. This involves various chaos control and targeting methods and noise suppression in lasers in general, and specific issues typical of semiconductor lasers. Metrology techniques based on applications of chaotic semiconductor lasers are presented in Chapter 11 which contains details on optical and active feedback interferometers and applications therein, self-mixing Doppler velocimetry, and chaotic lidar. Chapter 12 covers chaos synchronization in semiconductor lasers. This involves theory and experimental examples of chaos synchronization in various laser configurations including mutually coupled lasers, injected lasers, and common-chaotic-signal induced synchronization. A detailed treatment of chaotic communications in semiconductor lasers is found in Chapter 13 where the attention is paid to issues related to message encryption procedures in various chaotic laser systems. Finally, the last Chapter 14 is devoted to problems of physical random number generation and photonic integrated circuits for chaotic generators.