Stability of steady and periodic states through the bifurcation bridge mechanism in semiconductor ring lasers subject to optical feedback

With the development of new applications using semiconductor ring lasers (SRLs)
subject to optical feedback, the stability properties of their outputs becomes a crucial issue. We
propose a systematic bifurcation analysis in order to properly identify the best parameter ranges
for either steady or self-pulsating periodic regimes. Unlike conventional semiconductor lasers,
we show that SRLs exhibit both types of outputs for large and well defined ranges of the feedback
strength. We determine the stability domains in terms of the pump parameter and the feedback
phase. We find that the feedback phase is a key parameter to achieve a stable steady output. We
demonstrate that the self-pulsating regime results from a particular Hopf bifurcation mechanism
referred to as bifurcation bridges. These bridges connect two distinct external cavity modes and
are fully stable, a scenario that was not possible for diode lasers under the same conditions.