Sub-picosecond time jitter suppression using an optical feedback mechanism for a laser diode short pulse generator

Abstract

An optical pulse generator with low time jitter and tunable repetition rate is realized by using a gain-switched laser diode with a simple optical feedback timing control mechanism. A time jitter of a few ps is easily suppressed to less than 1 ps over a wide range of tunable pulse repetition. The ranges of timing, intensity and polarization for the optical pulse feedback condition are clarified experimentally. A compact, simple and low-jitter pulsed laser diode module is realized at a repetition rate between 1.5 and 7 GHz by tuning the pulse feedback timing.