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Topological insight into the non-Arrhenius mode hopping of semiconductor ring lasers

Beri,S.; Gelens,L.; Mestre, M.; Van der Sande, G.; Verschaffelt, G.; Scirè, A.; Mezosi, G. , Sorel, M.; Danckaert, J.
Physical Review Letters 101, 093903 (1-4) (2008)

We investigate both theoretically and experimentally the stochastic switching between two counter-propagating lasing modes of a semiconductor ring laser. Experimentally, the residence time distribution cannot be described by a simple one parameter Arrhenius exponential law and reveals the presence of two different mode-hop scenarios with distinct time scales. In order to elucidate the origin of these two time scales, we propose a topological approach based on a two-dimensional dynamical system.