Coherent transient measurements with a semiconductor diode laser

Semiconductor diode lasers have been widely used in atomic physics and quantum optics. Advanced semiconductor lasers have the capability of modulation in intensity or optical frequency at the rate greater than a few GHz by modulating the driving current. This characteristics makes semiconductor laser diodes ideal light sources in the study of optical coherent transient phenomena with the time scale ranging from few milliseconds to sub-nanoseconds. In this paper, we discuss the applications of semiconductor lasers in coherent transient measurements and report our experimental results.