DERIVING OF SINGLE INTENSIVE PICOSECOND OPTICAL PULSES FROM A HIGH-POWER GAIN-SWITCHED LASER-DIODE BY SPECTRAL FILTERING

Single 25 ps/16 W optical pulses were achieved by spectral filtering f rom a multiheterostructure gain-switched laser diode with its quasiste ady-state modes suppressed by a factor of 10(3) as compared with the p eak power. A significant transient spectrum broadening makes this poss ible provided that a very high dI/dt rate of the pumping current pulse is used. A simple numerical model is suggested which describes adequa tely both the spectral and transient features of the observed phenomen on. It follows from the model that single picosecond optical pulses ca n be obtained from any type of high power semiconductor laser. (C) 199 8 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)01320-6].