Mid-infrared hyperchaos of interband cascade lasers

Chaos in nonlinear dynamical systems is featured with irregular appearance and with high sensitivity to initial conditions. Near-infrared light chaos based on semiconductor lasers has been extensively studied and has enabled various applications. Here, we report a fully-developed hyperchaos in the mid-infrared regime, which is produced from interband cascade lasers subject to the external optical feedback. Lyapunov spectrum analysis demonstrates that the chaos exhibits three positive Lyapunov exponents. Particularly, the chaotic signal covers a broad frequency range up to the GHz level, which is two to three orders of magnitude broader than existed mid-infrared chaos solutions. The interband cascade lasers produce either periodic oscillations or low-frequency fluctuations before bifurcating to hyperchaos. This hyperchaos source is valuable for developing long-reach secure optical communication links and remote chaotic Lidar systems, taking advantage of the high-transmission windows of the atmosphere in the mid-infrared regime.