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We show, both experimentally and theoretically, that the loss of coherence of a long cavity optical coherence tomography (OCT) laser can be described as a transition from laminar to turbulent flows. We demonstrate that in this strongly dissipative system, the transition happens either via an absolute or a convective instability depending on the laser parameters. In the latter case, the transition occurs via formation of localised structures in the laminar regime, which trigger the formation of growing and drifting puffs of turbulence. Experimentally, we demonstrate that these turbulent bursts are seeded by appearance of Nozaki-Bekki holes, characterised by the zero field amplitude and π phase jumps. Our experimental results are supported with numerical simulations based on the delay differential equations model.

We present a new material pairing that can be used to realize high-contrast gratings at wavelengths of 10 μm and greater. Using only optical lithography, the material pair solves the absorption issue limiting the popular Si/SiO 2 pairing from operation above 6 μm. We describe the obstacles that exist with the currently used grating materials for this wavelength range and outline why our chosen materials overcome this obstacle. We numerically demonstrate that gratings utilizing these materials are capable of wideband high reflectivity. We experimentally show that the spectral response of gratings that are fabricated using such a process show good agreement with theoretically predicted performance.

We demonstrate high aperture (up to NA~0.64) three-dimensional focusing in free space based on wavefront-engineered diffraction gratings. The grating lens' optical response is tailored by spatially varying the grating ridge and groove width in two dimensions to achieve focal lengths of order 100 μm that are crucial for micro-optical applications. The phase profile of the lens includes multiple 2π phase jumps and was obtained by applying an algorithm for finding the optimal path for both phase and amplitude. Experimental measurements reveal a lateral spot size of 5 μm that is close to the size of a corresponding Airy disk.

We study experimentally the dynamics of quantum-dot (QD) passively mode-locked semiconductor lasers under external optical injection. The lasers demonstrated multiple dynamical states, with bifurcation boundaries that depended upon the sign of detuning variation. The area of the hysteresis loops grew monotonically at small powers of optical injection and saturated at moderate powers. At high injection levels the hysteresis decreased and eventually disappeared.

Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals with peculiar optoelectronic properties. Their wide application in light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and the medical and defense fields makes them a potential candidate in the area of photonics and biophotonics. In this feature issue of Optical Materials Express, together with Optics Express we focus on different aspects of semiconducting nanocrystals research, especially on the advances in the synthesis, physical properties, and application of QDs.

Fabry-Perot InAs quantum-dot lasers grown on GaAs substrates are mutually coupled with a delay of several nanoseconds. Stable phase-locked output with narrow linewidth is obtained when the frequency detuning between the two lasers is less than 4 GHz. This simple locking scheme could find application in a variety of photonics applications.

We have analyzed pulse width and timing jitter in passively mode-locked two-section InAs quantum-dot lasers emitting at 1310 nm and have identified two distinct, extensive mode-locked regions with robust short pulses and low timing jitter. A record combination of 2 ps pulses and 25 fs/cycle timing jitter (500 fs, 1-100 MHz), with 1 mW average output power per facet, is demonstrated.

We analyse the properties of GaAs based quantum dot semiconductor lasers emitting near 1310 nm. The line-width enhancement factor is shown to depend strongly on device temperature, ranging from 1.5 at 20 degrees C to 5 at 50 degrees C. With optical feedback from a distant reflector, devices remained stable at 20 degrees C but displayed a range of instabilities at 50 degrees C, including irregular power drop--outs and periodic pulsations, before entering a chaotic regime. Such dynamical features are unique to quantum dot lasers -- quantum well lasers are significantly more unstable under optical feedback making such a clear route to chaos difficult to observe.

We show that the various techniques commonly used to measure the linewidth enhancement factor can lead to different values when applied to quantum dot semiconductor lasers. Such behaviour is a direct consequence of the intrinsic capture/escape dynamics of quantum dot materials and of the free carrier plasma effects. This provides an explanation for the wide range of values experimentally measured and the linewidth re-broadening recently measured.