Type II excitability with quantum dot lasers: Canards, bistabilities and more

Excitable pulses are one of the necessary building blocks in achieving a functional neuromorphic photonic system. Many different semiconductor devices have been arranged in various configurations to produce excitable pulses [1]. Of these, Quantum Dot (QD) lasers in a unidirectional optical injection set-up are great candidates for future applications. The optically injected QD laser is shown to be a truly unique set up producing a plethora of different non linear dynamics, many of which are potentially useful in neuromorphic applications. In particular, there are several different excitable regimes: Both Type I [2] and Type II excitability [3] can be produced. In fact, both types are produced with exactly the same master-slave configuration. By simply adjusting the control parameters only - injection strength and detuning - it is easy to navigate between these two types of excitability.