Patent ID: 9543731
Date: 2017-01-10
CPC Classifications: H01S

Claim:
1. A method for generating short optical pulses comprising the steps of: operating a single section semiconductor laser in a nonlinear regime to emit chirped optical pulses at an output facet of the laser cavity; and compressing the chirped optical pulses outside the laser cavity by a dispersive element to generate the short optical pulses, wherein the single section semiconductor laser is operated with a DC injection current, the injected DC current is such that the generated optical intensity within the laser causes nonlinear effects inside a gain medium of the laser's cavity, and the chirped optical pulses are generated with an edge-emitting semiconductor laser having a multi-layered waveguide, the waveguide comprising at least one layer with an active region that emits light under electrical injection, and at least one aperiodic layer stack.