Temporal ghost imaging using integrated chaotic lasers

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate temporal ghost imaging (TGI) based on an integrated chaotic laser. The chaotic laser is a monolithically integrated four-section semiconductor laser, consisting of two distributed-feedback laser sections, an amplification section, and a phase section located between them. Compared with the traditional method of generating chaotic light, optical feedback lasers, this laser has a broader spectrum and does not exhibit feedback delay signature, both of which can improve TGI quality. Experiments reveal the effects of object rate, measurement times, and modulation depth on imaging quality and achieve TGI for 16-Gbit/s non-return-to-zero signals with a detection bandwidth of 1 GHz. It is also demonstrated experimentally that the integrated chaotic laser exhibits superior stability to discrete chaotic laser system; the fluctuation of imaging quality factor is reduced by 35%. Additionally, the TGI is robust to noise, and it maintains reliable performance even at a signal-to-noise ratio of −6.48 dB. It is believed that chaotic lasers are a highly promising TGI light source due to their small size and strong robustness.