Femtosecond pulse generation from external cavity diode laser based on self-mode-locking

Abstract

In this Letter, we report optical pulse generation from a single-section diode gain chip, employed in an external cavity geometry based on the self-mode-locking regime. The gain chip emits light at 1550 nm wavelength range. The external cavity is operated at various repetition rates, ranging from 1 to 2.5 GHz. An optical pulse width of approximately 650 fs is obtained by fitting a Lorentzian distribution. A low RF spectral width of 78.875 kHz is measured corresponding to a low pulse-to-pulse RMS timing jitter of 1.273 ps. This system paves the way towards ultra-compact, cost-effective, and chirp-compensated femtosecond laser pulse sources with adjustable repetition rates.

RF Analysis of a Sub-GHz InP-Based 1550 nm Monolithic Mode-Locked Laser Chip

“…However, measuring these is challenging. On the one hand, an additional optical transmitter or receiver can be used [8], [9]. However, this comprehends the undesired RF-to-optical conversion.…”