Freely Triggerable Picosecond Pulses From a DBR Ridge Waveguide Diode Laser Near 1120 nm

In this letter, we present results on the pulsed operation of a distributed Bragg reflector ridge waveguide 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 1.7 W at 10 MHz could be obtained. Investigations in operation at higher injection current pulse amplitude increased the pulse peak power to 2.6 W, but also showed significant trailing pulses which is typical for gain-switched diode lasers. The shape of the pulses is stable over the whole range of the investigated repetition frequencies from 5 to 80 MHz. At an operation temperature of 25 °C, the emitted radiation has a wavelength of 1114.7 nm and increases to 1116.4 nm at 45 °C. The central wavelength does not change significantly at higher output power.