Rogue waves and extreme events in mid infrared quantum cascade lasers under external optical feedback

Frédéric Grillot (1, 2, 3) , Olivier Spitz (4)

1 GTO - Télécommunications Optiques
2 COMELEC - Département Communications & Electronique
3 The University of New Mexico [Albuquerque]
4 CREOL - Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers

Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are optical sources exploiting radiative intersubband transitions within the conduction band of semiconductor heterostructures, which further guide the electron flow by tunneling and scattering to establish electronic inversion for a pair of quantum levels at a given electric field [1]. In order to increase the total gain, a module of several layers including the laser levels is repeated several times (Fig. 1 (left)), so that the electrons traverse the total structure like water in a cascade. Emission range of QCLs typically extends from the midinfrared to the terahertz region hence making them candidates of choice for a wide range of applications such as free-space laser communications [2] or optical radars [3]. This work aims at exploring rogue waves and optical dragon-kings arising in QCLs under optical feedback. While it is obvious that disruptive events will affect a transmission link, the detection and suppression of rogue waves is important for improving free-space data transmission. Ultimately, the control of these extreme events to a level such that a QCL could be used as a rogue waves generator could even be utilized to disrupt a free-space transmission link.

Mots clés: Rogue waves; Quantum cascade lasers; Optical feedback

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Frédéric Grillot, Olivier Spitz. Rogue waves and extreme events in mid infrared quantum cascade lasers under external optical feedback. NOLTA : 2023 International Symposium on Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, Sep 2023, Catania (IT), Italy. ⟨hal-04559869⟩