Kk. Chow et C. Shu, Fast spectral improvement in picosecond pulses generated from a DFB laser diode using a loosely coupled external cavity, IEEE PHOTON, 13(4), 2001, pp. 373-375
A simple external cavity is constructed to provide adjustable feedback to a
gain-switched distributed feedback laser diode. A 27-dB enhancement in the
sidemode suppression ratio (SMSR) and a 0.3-nm reduction in the spectral l
inewidth have been observed. The improvement shows a saturation behavior wh
en the feedback power reaches about -16 dBm, We report on the evolution and
the dynamics of the spectral improvement. The steady state can be achieved
as soon as four round-trip feedback cycles are completed, Dependences of t
he speed of improvement and the SMSR on the feedback pulse arrival time are
also investigated. The optimal result can be obtained over a sensitive tim
e window of about 20 ps.