Generation of high peak power (615 W) subpicosecond pulses using a gain switched distributed feedback laser diode and a nonlinear fiber compression technique

Summary form only given. A high power source is necessary in the development of efficient semiconductor nonlinear optical switches at 1.55 /spl mu/m to aid in the assessment and optimization process. A laser system was therefore constructed to generate pulses with peak powers of several hundred Watts at 1.55 /spl mu/m. A DFB laser was biased below threshold and driven at a repetition rate of 250 MHz with electrical impulses from a comb generator. Negatively chirped gain-switched pulses with FWHM pulsewidths of 20-25 ps and spectral widths of approximately 2 nm were obtained at the output of the laser diode, and nonlinear compression down to 0.65 ps was achieved by passing the pulse through 275 m of dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF).