Abstract

Voltage-controlled intracavity loss modulation is an efficient method of switching the optical output of quantum-well lasers. For ultrashort pulse generation, intracavity loss modulation has advantages over mode locking where stable external cavities and low jitter microwave sources are required.¹ The method also has advantages over conventional Q-switching in that lower modulation power is required and that the absorber ean be correctly terminated for the electrical drive circuitry. Furthermore, we have recently shown² that the spectral broadening accompanying intracavity loss modulation can be significantly less than that observed with conventionally modulated lasers. In this paper we present results on picosecond pulse production using intracavity loss-modulated, GaAs/ AlGaAs broad area, multiple quantum-well lasers³ and InGaAs/lnP quantum-well lasers.⁴

© 1991 Optical Society of America