High power picosecond pulse generation in GaAs multiquantum well phase locked laser arrays using pulsed current injection.

Gaussian shaped picosecond pulses as short as 62 psec have been obtained from an array of 10 phase coupled multi-quantum well GaAs lasers. Combined dc and 75 psec long current pulses from a comb generator were used. Single pulses were obtained with an average power of 50 mW at a 960 MHz repetition rate which corresponds to a peak power of 0.8 W. These pulse widths are in good agreement with a theory of pulse formation based on the carrier and photon density equations with the gain expanded in a power series in time to yield Gaussian pulses.