{
  "abstract": "We investigate the mechanisms underlying the emergence of discrete time crystals in actively mode-locked semiconductor lasers. Our analysis is based on a Haus master equation generalized to retain carrier memory between round-trips. We perform a detailed bifurcation analysis that reveals a well-defined hierarchy of subharmonic states, illustrating how pulses may suppress their neighbors when the modulation runs faster than the pulse round-trip frequency. To identify the underlying mechanism, we derive effective equations of motion that couple the pulse energies, their positions relative to the modulation transmission maxima, and the local time-dependent gain. These reveal that transitions between time-crystalline states occur via transcritical global bifurcations, opening a regime of heteroclinic winnerless competition between symmetry-degenerate configurations.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2611.09841",
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Elias R. Koch"
    },
    {
      "name": "Albert Gallemí"
    },
    {
      "name": "Clàudia López"
    },
    {
      "name": "Finn Petersen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Julien Javaloyes"
    },
    {
      "name": "Svetlana V. Gurevich"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/196nj0t5mt73j.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2611.09841",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "196nj0t5mt73j",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.09841",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "nlin.AO"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.optics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2611.09841",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-06",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/196nj0t5mt73j.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-10T06:21:04Z",
      "native_id": "2611.09841",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.09841"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:nlin.AO",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Discrete time crystals and heteroclinic switching in actively mode-locked semiconductor lasers",
  "title_text": "Discrete time crystals and heteroclinic switching in actively mode-locked semiconductor lasers",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-10T06:21:04Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/196nj0t5mt73j",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}