Generation of single-mode picosecond pulses by injection locking of an AlGaAs semiconductor laser

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Abstract
We report on the generation of picosecond single-mode optical pulses with 1-GHz repetition rate. Single-mode operation is obtained by injection locking a modulated multimode buried optical guide laser with a single-mode channel substrate planar master laser. The power ratio of the dominant mode to the total emitted power is improved from less than 0.07 without to more than 0.9 with injection locking. Detection is performed with an autocorrelator using second-harmonic generation in a nonlinear crystal. A pulsewidth of 58 ps is obtained assuming a Gaussian pulse shape. Moreover, the substructure of spikes caused by multimode operation is strongly suppressed when the laser is injection locked.