Pulse-Width Jitter Measurement for Laser Diode Pulses

Abstract

Theoretical analysis and experimental measurement of pulse-width jitterof diode laser pulses are presented. The expression of pulse powerspectra with all amplitude jitter, timing jitter and pulse-width jitteris deduced. The power spectra with and without pulse-width jitter arenumerically simulated. The simulation results indicate that thepulse-width jitter will contribute considerably noise to the pulse powerspectrum while the product of pulse width and angular frequency islarger than 1. The experimental measurement of pulse-width jitter ofa gain-switched Fabry–Perot laser diode with 2.4 GHz repetition rate isalso reported. In comparison of the noise power spectra of the first,fourth and seventh harmonics of the pulse repetition rate, 2.3 pspulse-width jitter is obtained.