Abstract

We report on a systematic investigation of the stability of a ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ laser subjected to delayed electro-optical feedback. Such a laser roughly displays three operational intervals of stability, which we characterize using high-resolution stability charts and a video. Contrary to current belief, we find delays smaller than $\sim 1\mathrm{\mu s}$ to strongly “clean complexity,” namely, to prevent chaos and periodic pulsations with many spikes. In contrast, complex pulsations and chaos are significantly enhanced for $\tau >1\mathrm{\mu s}$. In this range, one finds a complex alternation of periodic and chaotic phases, which are sensitive to the delay duration.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

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