Kominis 2017
Kominis 2017
                   Coupled semiconductor lasers are systems possessing complex dynamics that are interesting for numerous
                applications in photonics. In this work, we investigate the existence and the stability of asymmetric phase-locked
                states of the fundamental active photonic dimer consisting of two coupled lasers. We show that stable phase-locked
                states of arbitrary asymmetry exist for extended regions of the parameter space of the system and that their field
                amplitude ratio and phase difference can be dynamically controlled by appropriate current injection. The model
                includes the important role of carrier density dynamics and shows that the phase-locked state asymmetry is
                related to operation conditions providing, respectively, gain and loss in the two lasers.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.96.043836
gain coefficients of opposite signs in each laser, so that the     introducing the amplitude and phase of the complex electric
respective electric fields experience gain and loss, as in the     field amplitude in each laser as Ei = Xi eiθi , Eqs. (4) for M = 2
case of P T -symmetric configurations. However, it is shown        are written as
that deviation from P T -symmetry, expressed by a nonzero
detuning, enables the existence of asymmetric phase-locked
                                                                         dX1
states of arbitrary field amplitude ratio and phase difference,               = X1 Z1 − X2 sin θ,
that are most promising for applications.                                 dτ
    This paper is organized as follows: The rate equations               dX2
                                                                              = X2 Z2 + X1 sin θ,
model for coupled diode lasers is described in Sec. II. In                dτ
Secs. III and IV we analytically solve the inverse problem                                                  
                                                                           dθ                        X1   X2
of determining the phase-locked states of the system, that                    = − α(Z2 − Z1 ) +        −      cos θ,            (6)
                                                                           dτ                        X2   X1
is, we obtain the appropriate selection of the parameters
of the system to have a given asymmetric phase-locked                  dZ1
                                                                    2P     = P1 − Z1 − (1 + 2Z1 )X12 ,
state and investigate their stability, for the case of zero and        dτ
nonzero detuning, respectively. In Sec. V we numerically               dZ2
investigate the deformation of the symmetric phase-locked           2P     = P2 − Z2 − (1 + 2Z2 )X22 ,
                                                                       dτ
states of the system under nonzero detuning and asymmetric
pumping. In Sec. VI the main conclusions of this work are
summarized.                                                        where = 2 − 1 is the detuning, θ = θ2 − θ1 is the phase
                                                                   difference of the electric fields, and we have used a reference
      II. RATE EQUATIONS MODEL FOR COUPLED                         value P = (P1 + P2 )/2 to define  as in Eq. (3). As a reference
                   DIODE LASERS                                    case, we consider a pair of lasers with α = 5, T = 400, which
                                                                   is a typical configuration relevant to experiments and we
   The dynamics of an array of M evanescently coupled              take P = 0.5. For these values we have  = 5 × 10−2 and a
semiconductor lasers is governed by the following equations        coupling constant η in the range of 10−5 ÷ 100 corresponds to
for the slowly varying complex amplitude of the normalized         a  in the range 0.5 × 10−3 ÷ 0.5 × 102 . The phase-locked
electric field Ei and the normalized excess carrier density Ni     states are the equilibria of the dynamical system Eq. (6),
of each laser:                                                     given as the solutions of the algebraic system obtained by
         dEi                                                       setting the time derivatives of the system equal to zero and
              = (1 − iα)Ei Ni + iη(Ei+1 + Ei−1 ) + iωi Ei ,
         dt                                                        their linear stability is determined by the eigenvalues of
        dNi                                                        the Jacobian of the system. For the case of zero detuning
      T       = Pi − Ni − (1 + 2Ni )|Ei |2 , i = 1...M,      (1)   ( = 0) and symmetric electrical pumping (P1 = P2 = P0 ),
         dt
                                                                   two phase-locked states are known analytically: X1 = X2 =
                                                                   √
where α is the linewidth enhancement factor, η is the                 P0 , Z1 = Z2 = 0 and θ = 0,π . The in-phase state (θ = 0) is
normalized coupling constant, Pi is the normalized excess          stable for η > αP0 /(1 + 2P0 ), whereas the out-of-phase state
electrical pumping rate, ωi is the normalized optical frequency    (θ = π ) is stable for η < (1 + 2P0 )/2αT [29].
detuning from a common reference, T is the ratio of carrier            The phase difference θ and the electric field amplitude
to photon lifetimes, and t is the normalized time [29]. When       ratio ρ ≡ X2 /X1 of a phase-locked state crucially determine
the lasers are uncoupled (η = 0), they exhibit free running        the intensity response of the system. The incoherent intensity
relaxation with frequencies                                        is defined as the sum of the individual laser intensities S ≡
                                 
                                   2Pi                             |E1 |2 + |E2 |2 = (1 + ρ 2 )X12 and can be measured by placing
                          i =         .                     (2)   a broad detector next to the output face of the system. The
                                    T
                                                                   coherent intensity corresponds to a coherent superposition
Since we consider inhomogeneously pumped (Pi = Pj ) lasers,       of the individual electric fields I ≡ |E1 + E2 |2 = (1 + ρ 2 +
we use a reference value P to define a frequency                   2ρ cos θ )X12 and can be measured by placing a detector at the
                                                                  focal plane of an external lens. The coherent intensity depends
                                   2P
                          =          ,                      (3)   on the phase difference θ ; however, it does not take into account
                                    T                              the spatial distribution of the lasers, i.e., the distance between
which is further untilized to rescale Eqs. (1) as                  them. The latter determines the far-field pattern of the intensity
    dEi                                                            resulting from constructive and destructive interference at
        = (1 − iα)Ei Zi + i(Ei+1 + Ei−1 ) + ii Ei ,              different directions in space. By considering, for the sake of
     dτ
                                                                   simplicity, the lasers as two point sources at a distance d, the
    dZi                                                            coherent intensity is given by Iφ = |E1 + ei2π(d/λ) sin φ E2 |2 =
 2P     = Pi − Zi − (1 + 2Zi )|Ei |2 , i = 1...M,         (4)
    dτ                                                             E2 | = [1 + ρ 2 + 2ρ cos(θ + 2π (d/λ) sin φ)]X12 , where φ is
where                                                              the azimuthal angle measured from the direction normal to
                                                                   the distance between the lasers and λ is the wavelength
   τ ≡ t, Zi ≡ Ni / ,        ≡ η/,      i ≡ ωi / .    (5)
                                                                   [34]. It is clear that the asymmetry of the phase-locked state
   In the following, we investigate the existence and stability    described by ρ and θ along with the geometric parameter of the
of asymmetric phase-locked states for a pair of coupled            system d/λ define a specific far-field pattern Iφ with desirable
lasers under symmetric or asymmetric electrical pumping. By        characteristics.
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CONTROLLABLE ASYMMETRIC PHASE-LOCKED STATES . . .                                                 PHYSICAL REVIEW A 96, 043836 (2017)
   FIG. 1. Stability regions of asymmetric phase-locked states in a symmetric configuration with = 0 and P1 = P2 = P0 in the (log10 ,ρ)
parameter space. Dark blue and light yellow areas correspond to stability and instability, respectively. (a) α = 5 and T = 400, (b) α = 1.5 and
T = 400, (c) α = 5 and T = 2000 (case of Ref. [29]).
                                                                  043836-3
YANNIS KOMINIS, VASSILIOS KOVANIS, AND TASSOS BOUNTIS                                                PHYSICAL REVIEW A 96, 043836 (2017)
   FIG. 2. Steady-state phase difference θ (a) and field amplitude X0 (in logarithmic scale; logarithms are to base 10) (b) of the stable
asymmetric phase-locked state in the (log10 ,ρ) parameter space. Parameter values correspond to Fig. 1(a).
constant  as shown in Eq. (10) and Fig. 2(b). The appropriate            as the appropriate detuning ( ) and pumping rates (P1,2 ) for
symmetric pumping P0 in order to have an asymmetric                       an arbitrary field amplitude ratio (ρ) and phase difference (θ ),
phase-locked state is given by Eq. (11). It is obvious from               as follows:
the above equations that for ρ = 1 the well-known symmetric
states are obtained [29].                                                                             Z1 = ρ sin θ,
                                                                                                                                          (12)
   Phase-locked states with fixed phase difference θ but                                               
arbitrary electric field amplitude X0 exist for different pumping                                     Z2 = −
                                                                                                         sin θ,
                                                                                                       ρ
between the two lasers, given by Eq. (9). The stability of these                                                     
states depends crucially on the electric field amplitude X0 as                                    1                 1
                                                                                    = −α sin θ     + ρ −  cos θ     −ρ ,                (13)
shown in Fig. 3. In comparison to Fig. 1(a) corresponding to                                      ρ                 ρ
the same parameter set but with P1 = P2 = P0 the extent of                                              
the stability region is significantly reduced.                                       P1 = X02 + 1 + 2X02 ρ sin θ,
                                                                                                                                          (14)
                                                                                                                         
                                                                                       P2 = ρ   2
                                                                                                    X02   − 1 + 2ρ 2 X02      sin θ.
    IV. PHASED-LOCKED STATES WITH ARBITRARY                                                                                 ρ
       ASYMMETRY UNDER NONZERO DETUNING
                                                                          Therefore, there always exists a phase-locked state with
   Analogously to the case of zero detuning we can find                   arbitrary field amplitude asymmetry and phase difference,
analytically the steady-state carrier densities (Z1,2 ) as well           provided that the detuning and the pumping rates P1,2 have
    FIG. 3. Stability regions of asymmetric phase-locked states in an asymmetric configuration with = 0 and P1 = P2 in the (log10 ,ρ)
parameter space. Dark blue and light yellow areas correspond to stability and instability, respectively. α = 5, T = 400, and (a) log10 X0 = −3,
(b) log10 X0 = −1.5, (c) log10 X0 = −1.
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CONTROLLABLE ASYMMETRIC PHASE-LOCKED STATES . . .                                                  PHYSICAL REVIEW A 96, 043836 (2017)
values given by Eqs. (13) and (14), respectively, while the               bifurcations giving rise to stable limit cycles characterized by
steady-state carrier densities (Z1,2 ) are given by Eqs. (12).            asymmetric synchronized oscillations of the electric fields,
These phase-locked states exist in the whole parameter space              that can have different mean values and amplitudes of
and can have an arbitrary power X0 . However, their stability             oscillation.
depends strongly on the coupling () as well as the power                     Characteristic cases for the time evolution of the electric
(X0 ) and the degree of their asymmetry, characterized by ρ               field amplitudes X1,2 and the phase difference θ are depicted
and θ , as shown in Figs. 4(a)–4(f). It is worth mentioning               in Fig. 5 for various degrees of asymmetry. The parameters
that there is enough freedom in parameter selection to have               of the system correspond to those of Fig. 4(a), with phase
a controllable configuration that supports a large variety of             difference θ = 0.9π  2.83 and various values of ρ. For ρ =
stable asymmetric phase-locked states with unequal field                  0.75 [Fig. 5(a)] the asymmetric phase-locked state is stable
amplitudes and phase differences, with the latter crucially               and perturbed initial conditions evolve to the stable state. As ρ
determining the far field patterns of the pair of coupled                 decreases to ρ = 0.5 [Fig. 5(b)] and 0.25 [Fig. 5(c)], the phase-
lasers. The asymmetric states are characterized by carrier                locked states become unstable and the system evolves to stable
densities having opposite signs Z1 /Z2 = −ρ 2 < 0 so that the             limit cycles of increasing period. Close to the center of the
electric fields of the two lasers experience gain and loss,               unstable region the system evolves to chaotic states [ρ = 0.15,
respectively. For ρ = 1 we have equal gain and loss and                   Fig. 5(d)]. Further decreasing ρ results in stable limit cycles
a phase-locked state with equal field amplitude and phase                 [ρ = 0.10, Fig. 5(e)] and stable phase-locked states [ρ = 0.05,
difference given by Eq. (13) as sin θ = − /2α. At the                    Fig. 5(f)] corresponding to the stability region of lower ρ
boundaries of the stability regions, the system undergoes Hopf            shown in Fig. 4(a).
                                                                   043836-5
YANNIS KOMINIS, VASSILIOS KOVANIS, AND TASSOS BOUNTIS                                                PHYSICAL REVIEW A 96, 043836 (2017)
    FIG. 5. Time evolution of the electric field amplitudes and phase difference for parameters corresponding to Fig. 4(a). The initial conditions
correspond to asymmetric phase-locked states with θ = 0.9π  2.83 and ρ = 0.75 (a), 0.50 (b), 0.25 (c), 0.15 (d), 0.10 (e), 0.05 (f), perturbed
by random noise. In accordance to Fig. 4(a), the phase-locked states are unstable for 0.06 < ρ < 0.54. Cases of stable phase-locked states
are shown in (a) and (f). In the case of unstable phase-locked states the system evolves either to stale limit cycles [(b), (c), (e)] or to chaotic
states (d).
   FIG. 6. Existence and stability regions of phase-locked states in the (log10 , P ) parameter space for α = 5 and T = 400 when P0 = 0.5.
Dark blue and light yellow areas correspond to stability and instability, respectively. The green area corresponds to nonexistence of a
phased-locked state due to nonzero detuning. (a) = 0, (b) = 0.05, (c) = 0.1.
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CONTROLLABLE ASYMMETRIC PHASE-LOCKED STATES . . .                                                  PHYSICAL REVIEW A 96, 043836 (2017)
   FIG. 7. Steady-state phase difference (θ ) of the stable phase-locked states in the (log10 , P ) parameter space for α = 5, T = 400 and
P0 = 0.5. (a) = 0, (b) = 0.05 correspond to the cases of Figs. 6(a) and 6(b), respectively.
 V. DEFORMATION OF SYMMETRIC PHASED-LOCKED                                space and extends to values P = P0 for which only one of
 STATES UNDER NONZERO DETUNING AND PUMPING                                the lasers is pumped above threshold (P1 = 1, P2 = 0). This
                 ASYMMETRY                                                area of stability extending from intermediate to high values of
                                                                          coupling is enabled by the asymmetric pumping and indicates
   For the case of a given nonzero detuning and/or asym-
                                                                          its stabilizing effect. The dependence of the phase difference of
metrically pumped lasers P1 = P0 + P ,P2 = P0 − P , the
                                                                          the stable states on the coupling  and pumping difference P
equilibria of the system Eq. (6) cannot be analytically obtained
                                                                          is depicted in Fig. 7(a). In Fig. 8, the electric field amplitudes
for a given set of values ( , P ). The respective algebraic
                                                                          X1,2 and carrier densities X1,2 of all the stable states √      are
system consists of transcendental equations and is solved
                                                                          shown. It is clear that for P = 0 we have X1,2 = P          0 and
by utilizing a numerical continuation algorithm, according to
                                                                          Z1,2 = 0 and for small values of  we have X1,2 = P1,2
which we start from = 0 and P = 0 corresponding to the
                                                                          and Z1,2 = 0, as the two lasers are essentially uncoupled.
symmetric case with the two known equilibria (θ = 0,π ). For
                                                                          For P > 0 and finite coupling values the electric field and
each one of them, we increase and/or P in small steps; in
                                                                          carrier density destributions in the two lasers become highly
each step the solution of the previous step is used as an initial
                                                                          asymmetric.
guess for the iterative procedure (Newton-Raphson method)
                                                                              A nonzero detuning ( = 0) between the two lasers
that provides the solution.
                                                                          strongly affects the existence of a stable out-of-phase state
   For the case of zero detuning = 0, the domain of exis-
                                                                          in the weak coupling regime, as shown in Figs. 6(b) and 6(c)
tence of stable phase-locked states in the (, P ) parameter
                                                                          for = 0.05,0.1, respectively. The role of detuning in terms
space is shown in Fig. 6(a). For P = 0 the results are similar
to the case considered in [29], with the in-phase state being             of the phase of the stable states is clearly presented in Fig. 7(b)
stable for large  and the out-of-phase being stable for small            for = 0.05. In comparison to Fig. 7(a), corresponding to
values of . As the pumping difference increases, the stable              zero detuning, it is obvious that the phase of the stable
in-phase state extends only over a quite small range of P ,               states existing for intermediate and strong coupling is hardly
whereas the out-of-phase state extends almost in the entire               affected by the detuning, whereas the stable state, existing
range of P . In both cases, as P increases from zero the                  in the weak coupling regime, has a phase that ranges from
phase difference is slightly differentiated from the values θ =           π to 3π/2 depending strongly on  and P . The role of
0,π for P = 0. Surprisingly, another region of stable phase-              detuning is also shown in Figs. 9(a) and 9(b) for = 0.05
locked states appears in the strong coupling regime (large )             in the case of strong (log10  = 1) and weak (log10  =
above a threshold of pumping difference P . This is an                    −2.2) coupling, respectively. The detuning introduces phase
out-of-phase state with phase difference close to π that appears          sensitivity to current injection for stable modes of the weak
for values of P for which no stable in-phase state exists. In             coupling regime that can be quite interesting for beam-steering
fact, this stable state exists for a large part of the parameter          applications [1].
   FIG. 8. Steady-state electric field amplitudes X1,2 (a) and carrier densities Z1,2 (b) of the stable phase-locked states in the (log10 , P )
parameter space for α = 5, T = 400 and P0 = 0.5, corresponding to the case of Fig. 6(a).
                                                                   043836-7
YANNIS KOMINIS, VASSILIOS KOVANIS, AND TASSOS BOUNTIS                                              PHYSICAL REVIEW A 96, 043836 (2017)
    FIG. 9. Steady-state phase difference (θ ) of the stable phase-locked states in the ( , P ) parameter space for α = 5, T = 400 and P0 = 0.5.
(a) strong coupling log10  = 1, (b) weak coupling log10  = −2.2.
                       VI. CONCLUSIONS                                    the pumping profile of the system. The role of the current
                                                                          injection suggests a dynamic mechanism for the control of
   We have investigated the existence of stable asymmetric
                                                                          the phase-locked states and, therefore, the far-field emission
phase-locked states in a system of two coupled semiconductor
                                                                          patterns of this fundamental photonic element consisting of
lasers. The asymmetric phase-locked states are characterized
                                                                          two coupled lasers.
by a nonunitary field amplitude ratio and nontrivial phase
difference. The asymmetry is shown to be directly related to
operation conditions that result in the presence of gain in one
                                                                                               ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
laser and loss in the other. The crucial role of carrier density
dynamics has been taken into account by considering a model                  Y.K. is grateful to the School of Science and Technology of
where the field equations are dynamically coupled with the                Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan for its hospitality
carrier density equations, in contrast to standard coupled mode           during his visit at NU. This research is partly supported
equations, commonly considered in studies on non-Hermitian                by the ORAU grant entitled “Taming Chimeras to Achieve
photonics and PT-symmetric lasers. It has been shown that                 the Superradiant Emitter,” funded by Nazarbayev University,
stable asymmetric states exist even in absolutely symmetric               Republic of Kazakhstan. This work was partially also sup-
configurations and that states of arbitrary asymmetry can                 ported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the
be supported by appropriate selection of the detuning and                 Republic of Kazakhstan via Contract No. 339/76-2015.
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