High peak-power nanosecond pulses generated with DFB RW laser

The generation of optical pulses with very high-peak power by gain-switching of a distributed-feedback (DFB) ridge-waveguide (RW) laser emitting at a wavelength of 1064 nm is demonstrated. With 4 ns-long pulses a peak power of 2.6 W is achieved at a repetition frequency of 250 kHz. The rise and fall times of the pulses are about 1.2 ns. The spectral full width at half maximum ranges between 30 and 40 pm for all powers, whereas the width enclosing 95% of the intensity increases from 90 to 450 pm from low to high power. The laser has a cavity length of 1 mm.