Analysis of SFM dynamics in solitary and optically-injected VCSELs

The aim of this paper is to use the spin-flip model (SFM) to investigate how the fundamental parameters of birefringence, spin relaxation and pumping affect the dynamics of solitary and optically-injected vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The SFM predicts that a solitary VCSEL can exhibit diverse polarisation behaviour, including elliptical and linear stability, which can be used in polarisation switching. For given values of pumping, spin relaxation and birefringence, we analyse the electric field components, the carrier densities corresponding to spin-up and spin-down, and the relaxation oscillation frequency for a solitary VCSEL and the stability map for an optically-injected VCSEL.