Gain-switched laser diodes are widely used to generate short optical pulses
, which find several applications in optical fiber measurements and high-sp
eed optical communication systems. Temporal and spectral properties of the
gain-switched pulses can be tailored by filtering their optical spectrum. O
ptical filtering leads to suppression of frequency chirp and generation of
transform-limited pulses, We show that tuning of the center frequency of an
optical bandpass filter can result in not only pulse compression, but also
in the generation of a series of secondary oscillations after the primary
pulse. The origin of these secondary oscillations is investigated both expe
rimentally and analytically. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese
rved.