Bryan Kelleher

Inspired by the importance of bursting activities in neural computation, we investigate the bursting oscillations of an optically injected quantum dot laser. We find experimentally that the laser periodically switches between two distinct operating states with distinct optical frequencies exhibiting either fast oscillatory or nearly steady state evolutions: two-colour bursting oscillations. The conditions for the emergence and control of the bursts are analysed by systematic simulations of laser rate equations. By projecting the bursting solution onto the bifurcation diagram of a fast subsystem, we show how a specific hysteresis phenomenon explains the transitions between active and silent phases.