Method of operating a semiconductor laser as a mode-locked semiconductor laser and devices for implementing the method

US5313478A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Alcatel N.V. · NL

Inventors

• Dieter Baums · Ludwigsburg, DE
• Kaspar Dutting · Stuttgart, DE
• Olaf Hildebrand · Stuttgart, DE
• Wilfried Idler · Asperg, DE
• Gert Laube · Stuttgart, DE
• Michael Schilling · Stuttgart, DE
• Heinz Schweizer · Heidenheim, DE
• Klaus Wunstel · Schwieberdingen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: May 18, 1992
• Grant date: May 17, 1994
• Expiry date: May 18, 2012

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S5/1003
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A semiconductor laser that is monolithically integrated on a substrate and whose cavity has a branched structure that is simply contiguous in a topological sense, and which includes a plurality of regions that enclose the cavity, is operated as a mode-locked semiconductor laser, with an alternating current flowing through at least one region in addition to a direct current. The frequency of the alternating current is related to the reciprocal of the round-trip time or an integral multiple of this reciprocal of light pulses generated by the alternating current in the semiconductor laser.