Vectorial mechanism of instabilities in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

We investigate the influence of vectorial degrees of freedom on stationary and dynamic behavior of the amplitude-polarization parameters of vertical-c avity surface-emitting lasers. It is demonstrated that these lasers can exh ibit complex dynamics, including fully developed amplitude-polarization cha os, even when a single polarization pattern is excited. The appearance of c haotic dynamics is attributed to the vectorial mechanism of destabilization , which can act on the dynamics independently of the conventional scalar me chanism. This property provides background for new measurement methods. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(00)00811-0].