Phase bistable patterns in VCSELs due to spatial rocking

We investigate a control technique, known as rocking, for the formation of phase bistable patterns of light by means of spatially periodic injection in a broad area nonlinear optical system. More precisely, we consider a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The spatial periodic injection or spatial rocking is found to convert the initially phase-invariant oscillatory system into a phase-bistable pattern forming one. We investigate the role of carrier lifetime on the efficiency of rocking in a broad-area VCSEL structure. This simple and robust device received a special attention owing to advances in semiconductor technology. We show that the regime where rocking works depends strongly on the ratio between the time scales associated with the electric field and the carrier density. The size of the rocking region depends on the ratio between the time scales. © 2014 SPIE.