Excitability of periodic and chaotic attractors in semiconductor lasers with optoelectronic feedback

The dynamics of a semiconductor laser with AC-coupled nonlinear optoelectronic feedback has been experimentally studied. A period doubling sequence of small periodic and chaotic attractors is observed, each of them displaying excitable features. This scenario is found also in a simplified physical model of the system, thus extending the concept of excitability, usually associated to fixed points, also to the case of higher-dimensional attractors.