Collective Coherence Resonance in Networks of Optical Neurons

The dynamical properties of an optical neuron formed by a quantum dot semiconductor laser model subjected to optical injection and optical feedback are analyzed. The parameter space spanned by the injection strength and frequency detuning of the optical injection is systematically scanned and modulations of the bifurcation boundaries that induce complex scenarios are found, which enable new opportunities to introduce the optical setup as an optical neuron. The counterintuitive behavior of coherence resonance for different setups of a single-driven optical neuron under optical feedback is also found. Following the results, the microscopically motivated quantum dot laser rate equation model is reduced to the normal form of a saddle-node infinite period (SNIPER) bifurcation for low injection strengths and a network of four such SNIPER systems in a globally coupled setup is studied. A new phenomenon is observed, which is called collective coherence resonance. This novel dynamical behavior is connected to the coexistence of a network-wide SNIPER bifurcation and a change in stability for the synchronized manifold, analyzed via the master stability function.