(SUB)PICOSECOND LASER-DIODES

Recent experiments have shown that laser diodes are capable to deliver pulses as short as 160 fs, thus approaching the performances of more conventional femtosecond lasers such as Ti:sapphire lasers or dye lase rs. Regular progress is also accomplished in terms of power and energy efficiency or spectral and spatial brightness with the development of novel semiconductor laser structures. In this paper, we briefly revie w the decisive improvements which have placed laser diodes in the cate gory of ''sub-picosecond'' lasers, Several experimental results recent ly obtained by the group of Orsay are used to illustrate the specific characteristics of short-pulse laser diodes as compared to other laser systems. Applications of short-pulse laser diodes in the domains of o ptical telecommunications, electro-optic sampling and non-linear optic s are briefly presented.