Patent ID: 8263903

Claim:
A method for stabilizing an output of a pulsed laser system, said output being controlled using a pulse shaping signal directly modulating a drive current of a laser diode within said laser system to obtain a desired temporal shape of said output, the method comprising a step of a) controlling the pulse shaping signal to define over time: at least one processing period wherein the pulse shaping signal has an amplitude profile tailored so as to produce the desired temporal shape of the output; and at least one conditioning period, either immediately preceding or immediately following one of the at least one processing periods, wherein the amplitude profile of the pulse shaping signal is tailored so that the drive current of the laser diode is lower than a maximum value of said drive current during the corresponding processing period, and is of a same order of magnitude as a laser threshold current of said laser diode, whereby a stability of said output during the corresponding processing period is improved.