Dynamics of a semiconductor laser array with delayed global coupling

We study the dynamics of an array of single mode semiconductor lasers globally but weakly coupled by a common external feedback mirror and by-nearest neighbor interactions. We seek to determine the conditions under which all lasers of the array are in phase, whether in a steady, periodic, quasiperiodic, or chaotic regime, in order to maximize the output far field intensity. We show that the delay may be a useful control parameter to achieve in-phase synchronization. For the in-phase steady state, there is a competition between a delay-induced Hopf bifurcation leading to an in-phase periodic regime and a delay-independent Hopf bifurcation leading to an antiphased periodic regime. Both regimes are described analytically and secondary Hopf bifurcations to quasiperiodic solutions are found. Close to the stable steady state, the array is described by a set of Kuramoto equations for the phases of the fields. Above the first Hopf bifurcation, these equations are generalized by the addition of second and third order time derivatives of the phases.