Complex spatiotemporal dynamics of a 100-emitter laser diode array

Dynamics of large laser diode arrays (LD-arrays) consisting of many element s (emission regions) coupled to neighbor elements is of great interest, bec ause chaotic oscillation has been reported even for 2-emitter LD-arrays. Th e main objective of this study is to investigate the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of a LD-array consisting of 100 emitters using the evanescent cou pling mode model. As the coupling strength is increased, the LD-array goes from (i) a homogeneous steady state to (ii) a period T state in which all s ites have equal temporal period, to (iii) a spatially-varying temporal peri od state, and finally to (iv) spatiotemporal chaos. In state (ii), the spat ially and temporally ordered pattern which consists of two subsets (odd- an d even-numbered sites) is self-generated from a random initial condition. I n state (iii), ordered and chaotic sites can coexist ill the same system. T his characteristic is due to the mutual interaction of many elements, and d oes not appear in the case of a 2-emitter array.