High-power picosecond pulse generation in GaAs multiquantum well phase-locked laser arrays using pulsed current injection

Gaussian shaped picosecond pulses as short as 62 ps have been obtained from an array of 10 phase-coupled multiquantum well GaAs lasers. Combined dc and 75 ps long current pulses from a comb generator were used. Single pulses were obtained with an average power of 50 mW at a 960 MHz repetition rate which corresponds to a peak power of 0.8 W. These pulse widths are in good agreement with a theory of pulse formation based on the carrier and photon density equations with the gain expanded in a power series in time to yield Gaussian pulses.