Microwave Photonic Applications of Semiconductor Laser Nonlinear Dynamics

The high-speed characteristics of semiconductor lasers have many applicationsin microwave photonics. Using proper perturbations, semiconductor lasers can beeasily driven into a number of dynamical states because of the intrinsic laser nonlinearities.These nonlinear dynamical states include periodic oscillation, regularpulsation, quasi-periodic pulsation, frequency-locking, and chaos. This presentationreviews the applications of the nonlinear dynamics for optical generation andmanipulation of microwave signals. Using a properly adjusted optical injection, alaser is driven into periodic oscillation so that a microwave modulation is imposedon the optical carrier. The microwave frequency is widely tunable and is not limitedby the original laser modulation bandwidth. The signal can be controlled bymicrowave injection locking, subharmonic locking, or self-injection locking. Thedynamics have many applications in radio-over- ber (RoF) systems such as lowpower penalty transmission, all-optical AM-to-FM transformation, microwave frequencyconversion, and frequency division multiplexed transmission. Additionally,when a strong modulation is applied on the optical injection, the laser undergoesbifurcations and follows the quasi-periodic route to chaos. The modulation canbe adjusted to maximize the chaotic bandwidth for chaotic ranging applications.Furthermore, a laser perturbed by optoelectronic feedback is also considered. Theresultant frequency-locked pulsing state is harnessed for generating microwave frequencycombs. The advances in laser nonlinear dynamics have made these diverseand interesting applications possible.