Experimental control of power dropouts by current modulation in a semiconductor laser with optical feedback

The injection current of an external-cavity semiconductor laser working in a regime of low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs) is modulated at several MHz. The rate of power dropouts in the laser emission is correlated with the amplitude and frequency of the modulating signal. The occurrence of dropouts becomes more regular when the laser is driven at 7 MHz, which is close to the dominant frequency of dropouts in the solitary laser. Driving the laser at 10 MHz also induces dropouts with a periodicity of 0.1 μs, resulting in LFFs with two dominant frequencies.