Analysis of message extraction in optical chaos communications based on injection-locking synchronization of semiconductor lasers

In this paper, we employ a simple theory based on driven damped oscillators to clarify the physical basis for message extraction in optical chaos communications using injection-locked semiconductor lasers. The receiver laser is optically driven by injection from the transmitter laser. We have numerically investigated the response characteristics of the receiver when it is driven by periodic (message) and chaotic (carrier) signals. It is thereby revealed that the response of the receiver laser in the two cases is quite different. For the periodic drive, the receiver exhibits a response depending on the signal frequency, while the chaotic drive provides a frequency-independent synchronous response to the receiver laser. CPF can be clearly understood in the difference between the periodic and chaotic drives. Message extraction using CPF is also examined, and the validity of our theoretical explanation for the physical mechanism underlying CPF is thus verified.