[15p-213-5~20] 3.5 Laser system and materials

▲ [15p-213-17] Generation of smooth-shape nano-second light pulses from gain-switched laser diodes

〇KaiHsun Chang¹, Jui-Hung Hung¹, Yi-Cheng Fang¹, Hiroyuki Yokoyama¹ (1.NICHe, Tohoku University.)

Keywords:gain-switched, nano-second light pulses, semiconductor laser

We have generated smooth-shaped sub-nanosecond optical pulses from a pulsed-driven gain-switched laser diode (GS-LD). Conventionally, GS-LDs are flexible sources to generate optical pulses having a pulse duration of below 100 ps. However, it is difficult to generate smooth-shaped single-peak sub-ns optical pulses. In this report, we demonstrate that a combination of DC current and RF pulses can solve that problem. By adding the DC current to just above lasing threshold, the short-duration first pulse, which is observed in a conventional GS-LD, is eliminated. Including the present way, we may expect to develop several new methods that enable the generation of optical pulses with flexible pulse durations and shapes.