Bistable polarization switching in mutually coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers
Abstract
We theoretically investigate the polarization-resolved dynamics of two vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers that are mutually coupled through coherent optical injection. We find a sequence of bistable polarization switchings that can be induced by changing either the coupling strength or the optical propagation phase. The successive polarization switchings are correlated with the creation of new compound-cavity modes when these parameters are continuously varied.