Experimental investigations on the external cavity time signature in chaotic output of an incoherent optical feedback external cavity semiconductor laser

Chaotic dynamics of a semiconductor laser subject to incoherent optical feedback (IOF) are experimentally investigated, and the external cavity time are retrieved and measured from intensity time series of the laser output by using self-correlation function and the mutual information. Through moderating feedback strength and injection current of the laser, the external cavity time signature of the laser chaotic output is effectively attenuated, and then the security of such chaos encryption system can be assured to a certain degree. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.