DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2003-00285-3
Europhys. Lett., 64 (2) , pp. 178-184 (2003)

Ghost resonance in a semiconductor laser with optical feedback

J. M. Buldú¹, D. R. Chialvo^{2, 3}, C. R. Mirasso², M. C. Torrent¹ and J. García-Ojalvo<sup>1, 4

1</sup>  Departament de Física i Enginyeria Nuclear, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Colom 11, E-08222 Terrassa, Spain
²  Departament de Física, Universitat de les Illes Balears E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
³  Department of Physiology, Northwestern University - Chicago, IL, 60611, USA
⁴  Center for Applied Mathematics, Cornell University - Ithaca, NY 14854, USA

(Received 3 April 2003; accepted in final form 8 August 2003)

Abstract
We show both experimentally and numerically a ghost resonance in the sudden power dropouts exhibited by a semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback driven by two simultaneous weak periodic signals. The small signal modulation conspires with the complex internal dynamics of the system to produce a resonance at a ghost frequency, i.e. a frequency that is not present in the driving signals. This is an eminently nonlinear effect not reported before and agrees with the recent theoretical predictions by Chialvo et al.  (Phys. Rev. E, 65 (2002) 050902(R)).

PACS
42.65.Sf - Dynamics of nonlinear optical systems; optical instabilities, optical chaos and complexity, and optical spatio-temporal dynamics.
05.45.-a - Nonlinear dynamics and nonlinear dynamical systems.

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