Signal masking for chaotic optical communication using external-cavity diode lasers

Abstract

Amplitude modulation is used to encode a message into the output of a chaotic laser-diode optical transmitter, and decoding of the message by use of a synchronized chaotic laser-diode receiver is demonstrated experimentally. The chaotic carrier is shown to effectively mask the transmitted message.

Anticipation in the Synchronization of Chaotic Semiconductor Lasers with Optical Feedback

“…Optical feedback can destabilize the laser, causing it to enter a regime characterized by high-intensity noise and a very broad linewidth, which has been shown to be a form of chaotic dynamics [10]. Several groups have demonstrated the synchronization of chaotic oscillations, and the possibility of message encoding and decoding [11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

Tunable Extended-cavity Diode Laser Based on a Novel Flexure-mechanism

“…They find applications in fields like spectroscopy, optical components characterization, atomic physics and atomic clocks, atmospheric sensing and telecommunication (Luvsandamdin et al 2011;Smolka et al 2003;Sivaprakasam et al 1999;Fiddler et al 2009). …”

Dual-lag synchronization between coupled chaotic lasers due to path-delay interference

“…Coupling can be accomplished optoelectronically, by modulating the pump current of a laser with the electrical signal of a photodetector that measures the light emitted by another laser, [10][11][12] or more simply in a purely optical manner, by injection (coherent or incoherent) of a laser's output light into another. [13][14][15] Given the fast temporal scales (on the order of picoseconds) with which semiconductor lasers operate, the time taken by the coupling signals to travel between the lasers (typically larger than nanoseconds) cannot be usually ignored, and thus interacting lasers become instances of delay-coupled dynamical systems. 16 Within that context, a unidirectional coupling configuration in which the light emitted by a chaotic laser is injected into a second laser (which is stable in the absence of injection) readily exhibits synchronization with a time lag equal to the coupling delay time, in such a way that the emitting laser leads over the receiver.…”