Performance improvement by a saturable absorber in gain-switched asymmetricwaveguide laser diodes

Brigitte Lanz*, Boris S. Ryvkin, Eugene A. Avrutin, Juha T. Kostamovaara

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A simplest saturable absorber, in the form of an unpumped section, is introduced into a Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser with a strongly asymmetric broadened waveguide structure incorporating a relatively thick (80 nm) active layer. This allows for suppression of trailing oscillations and a decrease in the optical pulse width compared to the uniformly biased structure. Single optical pulses of ~80 ps full width at half maximum (FWHM) and ~35 W peak power (~3 nJ pulse energy, Eopt), practically without trailing edge oscillations, were experimentally achieved under room temperature conditions by absorber-assisted gain-switching, using pumping current pulses of ~1.3 ns FWHM and ~17 A amplitude. The laser emission has a narrow (13 degrees FWHM in the transverse direction) far field.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)29780-29791
Number of pages12
JournalOptics Express
Volume21
Issue number24
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Dec 2013

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