Self-pulsation in the output intensity and spectrum of GaAs-AlGaAs cw diode lasers coupled to a frequency-selective external optical cavity

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Abstract
The laser emission of a cw diode laser coupled to an external cavity is self‐pulsing at a frequency of 3–30 MHz, that is, two orders of magnitude lower than the resonance frequencies of the external cavity (typically 0.5 m long). The low‐frequency self‐pulsation is also present with a wavelength‐selective external cavity using a grating as a reflector that narrows the laser emission to a single longitudinal mode. This paper describes some of the characteristics of the self‐pulsation such as the pulse shape, the frequency dependence, the shift of the wavelength of the lasing mode during a pulse, and their dependence on the wavelength selection by the grating.