Bifurcation transitions in an optically injected diode laser: theory and experiment

We show how bifurcation theory and experimental measurements can be used hand-in-hand to analyse transitions to complicated dynamics in a semiconductor laser subject to optical injection. By a direct comparison of theoretical and experimental optical spectra we identify and explain the underlying dynamics in phase space. This is demonstrated with four distinct bifurcation transitions, including a transition near a saddle-node Hopf point and an intermittent transition to chaos