Interferometric investigations of the picosecond structure and conditions for the emission of ultrashort pulses from injection lasers

A scanning Michelson interferometer with linear and nonlinear recording was used in a study of the picosecond structure of the pulsed and continuous radiation emitted from GaAs injection lasers. Three characteristic times were determined: the coherence time, the time of transit through the resonator, and the minimum duration of an ultrashort pulse (3×10^–13sec). Under certain conditions, giant pulses were emitted with a repetition period of 2X10^–11 sec.