%0 Journal Article
%T Cavity Solitons in VCSEL Devices
%A S. Barbay
%A R. Kuszelewicz
%A J. R. Tredicce
%J Advances in Optical Technologies
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2011/628761
%X We review advances on the experimental study of cavity solitons in VCSELs in the past decade. We emphasize on the design and fabrication of electrically or optically pumped broad-area VCSELs used for CSs formation and review different experimental configurations. Potential applications of CSs in the field of photonics are discussed, in particular the use of CSs for all-optical processing of information and for VCSELs characterization. Prospects on self-localization studies based on vertical cavity devices involving new physical mechanisms are also given. 1. Introduction In this paper we address experimental results on Cavity Solitons (CS) in VCSEL devices and focus on recent studies and developments. We emphasize on the design and fabrication of electrically or optically pumped broad-area VCSELs used for CS formation and review different experimental configurations. Applications of CS in the field of photonics are discussed, in particular the potential use of CS for all-optical processing of information and for VCSEL characterization. Prospects on self-localization studies based on vertical cavity devices involving new physical mechanisms are also given. The reader interested in the theory of CS formation in semiconductor devices can refer to recent reviews on the subject [1, 2] and also to [3] which provides a general review on CSs and their applications to photonics from a more fundamental viewpoint. A collection of articles on the most recent developments in the field can also be found in [4]. Our goal is to provide a complete and accessible review on past and most recent experimental results on CSs using vertical cavity semiconductor devices, while giving a prospect on future directions. During the 80s, the main focus of experimental studies on nonlinear dynamics was on temporal dynamics (see, e.g., [5, 6]). Observation of period doubling, quasiperiodicity, intermittency, and chaos in a variety of systems ranging from fluids to chemical reactions appeared in the literature (see, e.g., [7¨C9]). Optics was not an exception. After the report of period doubling and chaos in a modulated laser [10], several papers showed theoretically and experimentally the appearance of instabilities in optical systems [11]. In particular, laser with injected signal and optical amplifiers have been exhaustively studied [12¨C17]. Dynamics of semiconductor lasers under injection and delayed optical feedback were also objects of interests mainly because of the possible applications of such devices in optical communication systems [18¨C20]. Later, mainly during the 90s, the
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aot/2011/628761/