Abstract

Monolithicly integrated mode-locked semiconductor lasers are compact and stable sources of ultrashort optical pulses.¹⁻⁷ Their applications include multi-hundred Gbit/sec time-division multiplexed communication systems, ultra-high speed electro-optic sampling systems, soliton transmission in optical fibers, and generation of millimeter and sub-millimeter waves. The fully integrated optical cavities not only eliminate the tedious optical alignment processes in the mode-locked semiconductor lasers using external cavities and bulk optics, they also suppress the undesired multiple pulse output generated by residue intra-cavity reflections. The first sub-picosecond pulses from integrated mode-locked lasers were generated with a novel monolithic colliding pulse mode-locked (CPM) quantum-well lasers.^6,7

© 1991 Optical Society of America