Suppression of Multiple Pulse Formation in External-Cavity Mode-Locked Semiconductor Lasers Using Intrawaveguide Saturable Absorbers

Dennis J. Derickson, University of California - Santa Barbara
R. J. Helkey, University of California - Santa Barbara
A. Mar, University of California - Santa Barbara
Judy R. Karin, University of California - Santa Barbara
J. E. Bowers, University of California - Santa Barbara
R. L. Thornton, Xerox Reserach Center, Palo Alto, CA

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Copyright © 1992 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. The definitive version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/68.127204.

NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Dennis Derickson was not yet affiliated with Cal Poly.

Abstract

Imperfect antireflection coatings in external-cavity mode-locked semiconductor lasers can cause multiple output pulse generation. The incorporation of an intrawaveguide saturable absorber segment into the laser suppresses this problem. Single pulse outputs of less than 2.8 ps and 0.7 pJ of energy are obtained using such devices with both quantum well and bulk active regions