Self-sustained picosecond pulse generation in a GaAlAs laser at an electrically tunable repetition rate by optoelectronic feedback

Abstract

We demonstrate that applying optoelectronic feedback to a high-speed, self-pulsing semiconductor laser is an effective and practical means of generating picosecond optical pulses (~10–20 ps) at a very high repetition rate, between 1 to 5 GHz, which can be electrically tuned. The optical pulses are very stable both on a short term basis with a frequency stability of one part in 10^5, and on the long term basis as a result of the absence of critical optical alignment. This laser system is potentially very useful in high-speed electro-optic signal processing, optical multiplexing, or laser ranging.