Picosecond pulses from a mid-infrared interband cascade laser

Abstract
The generation of mid-infrared pulses in monolithic and electrically pumped devices is of great interest for mobile spectro-scopic instruments. The gain dynamics of interband cascade lasers (ICL) are promising for mode-locked operation at low threshold currents. Here, we present conclusive evidence for the generation of picosecond pulses in ICLs via active mode-locking. At small modulation power, the ICL operates in a linearly chirped frequency comb regime characterized by strong frequency modulation. Upon increasing the modulation amplitude, the chirp decreases until broad pulses are formed. Careful tuning of the modulation frequency minimizes the remaining chirp and leads to the generation of 3.2 ps pulses. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Description
Citation
Document type
Peer-reviewed
Document version
Published version
Date of access to the full text
Language of document
en
Study field
Comittee
Date of acceptance
Defence
Result of defence
Document licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Citace PRO