Lyapunov-exponent-based diagnostics are widely used to quantify deterministic chaos in optically injected semiconductor lasers (OISLs). In most numerical implementations, the optical field is represented either in phasor coordinates (A,ψ,N) or in Cartesian quadrature coordinates (X,Y,N). Although these representations are mathematically related through a smooth coordinate transformation away from vanishing field amplitude, their numerical realizations can exhibit markedly different robustness in variational calculations, directly impacting the reliability of Lyapunov exponent estimation and chaoticity maps. In this work, we present a systematic assessment of the numerical reliability of Lyapunov-based chaos analysis in master-slave optically injected semiconductor lasers using both phasor and quadrature formulations. The full Lyapunov spectrum was computed via a noise-free variational method that integrates the nonlinear dynamics together with the corresponding Jacobian equations using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme combined with periodic QR orthonormalization. High-resolution Lyapunov maps were constructed in the injection strength-frequency detuning parameter space, and the consistency between both formulations was quantitatively evaluated. While both approaches reproduce the overall structure of chaotic and non-chaotic regions, the phasor formulation may generate spurious positive Lyapunov exponents in regimes where the optical field amplitude approaches low values. These discrepancies originate from singular terms proportional to 1/A and 1/A2 in the variational Jacobian of the phasor model, which can lead to numerical amplification and artificial chaotic signatures. The quadrature formulation avoids these singularities and provides numerically stable and physically consistent Lyapunov spectra across the explored parameter space. The results establish practical guidelines for robust chaos quantification in optically injected semiconductor lasers and highlight the importance of representation choice in variational Lyapunov analysis of nonlinear photonic systems.
Ávila et al. (2026) studied this question.