Abstract

The generation of coherent ultrafast light pulses with semiconductor lasers is of considerable interest for scientific as well as practical applications. Active and passive mode locking has been applied so far to produce optical pulses in the picosecond or even subpicosecond time regime.^1,2 This is the first known report of a new technique for synchronous mode locking of a diode laser and an acousto-optically mode-locked Ar⁺-ion laser by using a picosecond optoelectronic switch for synchronized excitation of the diode laser. Synchronously mode-locked pulses with 30-psec duration (FWHM) are generated at a repetition rate of 80.32 MHz with a buried-heterostructure GaAs/GaAlAs double-heterostructure laser.

© 1984 Optical Society of America