High frequency, wavelength-tunable pulse generation using a gain-switched commercial Fabry-Perot laser with strong external-injection

The development of wavelength tunable optical pulse sources at high repetition rates (20-40 GHz) is extremely important for use in high speed optical communications systems. One of the simplest techniques available to generate high quality, single-mode, optical pulses involves self- or external-injection seeding of a gain-switched Fabry-Perot laser. In this paper, we make use of the strong external-injection technique with a FP laser to demonstrate the generation of wavelength tunable, gain-switched pulses at frequencies around 20 GHz, which is far greater than what would be possible with the FP lasers inherent bandwidth.