High chaotic spiking rate in a closed loop semiconductor laser with optical feedback

We investigate experimentally and numerically the existence of fast chaotic spiking in the dynamics of a semiconductor laser with ac-coupled optical feedback. The observed dynamics is chaotic in the explored range of both bias current optical feedback strength. The effects of a modulation applied to the bias current are also investigated. We eventually indicate that the observed chaotic dynamics is a good candidate to hide information to satisfy secure communications. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.