This thesis is a theoretical and experimental study of the dynamics of an edge-emitting laser diode (850 nm) with phase-conjugate feedback. The experimental device is designed to see the dynamical range of the laser through the temporal and spectral properties while the feedback rate varies. Phase-conjugate feedback is performed through four-wave mixing in a photorefractive crystal. The propagation time of the laser beam in the external cavity is termed external time delay. Under the effect of the feedback, the system shows a wide dynamical range including chaos and self-pulsing states which characteristic properties are determined by the length of the external cavity. For the first time self-pulsing states at frequencies multiples of the fundamental frequency of the external cavity are evidenced. Simulations carried out based on the commonly-used Lang-Kobayashi laser rate equations provide theoretical confirmations to the experimental observations. The main topics tackled here are chaos crisis and bistability of pulsing solutions, self-pulsing regimes (through their stabilization and destabilization) and the transitions between them, characterization of extreme events of two kinds along with their statistical distribution and delay-induced deterministic coherence resonance of low frequency fluctuations. Beyond the fundamental interest of these results and the many comparisons that can be made with other laser systems, applications in the field of all-optical signal generation and control of chaos are direct consequences of this study.
