Directional reversals and multimode dynamics in semiconductor ring lasers

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of longitudinal modes in quantum-well semiconductor ring lasers by means of a spatio-temporal travelling wave model. We report the existence of a novel multimode instability in such a system that provokes a periodic deterministic directional reversal involving jumps between consecutive longitudinal modes. The switching sequence follows the modal frequencies from blue to red, and every modal jump is accompanied by a reversal of the direction of emission. We characterize and analyze such instability via the bifurcation analysis of the full travelling wave model as well as by performing the linear stability analysis of the monochromatic solutions.