Abstract

We report on the temporal profile of optical pulses emitted by a semiconductor laser when driven by 17 ps electrical pulses. These optical pulses are detected with subpicosecond resolution by optical up-conversion sampling[1,2]. The short duration of our electrical pulses distinguishes this work from previously published reports on gain- switching experiments. The short electrical pulses enable us to operate in a regime where the optical pulse widths are limited only by the laser, even when it is biased at threshold. We have investigated how the risetime, falltime, FWHM, amplitude and delay time of the gain-switched pulses vary with the semiconductor laser’s operating conditions (e.g. dc bias current, the width and amplitude of the driving pulse, and temperature).

© 1987 Optical Society of America