Freely Triggerable Picosecond Pulses from a DBR Ridge Waveguide Diode Laser near 1120 nm

In this work we present results on the pulsed operation of a distributed Bragg reflector ridge waveguide (DBR RW) diode laser with wavelength close to 1120 nm. Picosecond optical pulses were generated by gain-switching at variable repetition frequencies up to 80 MHz. In single-pulse operation a pulse width of 92 ps with a pulse peak power of 1.7W at 10MHz could be obtained. Investigations in operation at higher injection current pulse amplitude increased the pulse peak power to 2.6W, but also showed significant trailing pulses which is typical for gain-switched diode lasers. The shape of the pulses are stable over the whole range of the investigated repetition frequencies from 5MHz to 80 MHz. At an operation temperature of 25 °C the emitted radiation has a wavelength of 1114.7 nm and increases to 1116.4nm at 45 °C. The central wavelength does not change significantly at higher output power.