Response of laser-localized structures to external perturbations in coupled semiconductor microcavities

Abstract

Laser-localized structures have been observed in several experiments based on broad-area semiconductor lasers. They appear as bounded regions of laser light emission which can exist independently of each other and are expected to be commuted via external optical perturbations. In this work, we perform a statistical analysis of time-resolved commutation experiments in a system of coupled lasers and show the role of wavelength, polarization and pulse energy in the switching process. Furthermore, we also analyse the response of the system outside of the stability region of laser-localized states in search of an excitable response. We observe not only a threshold separating two types of responses, but also a strong variability in the system's trajectory when returning to the initial stable fixed point.