Method for generating single picosecond optical pulses with substantially suppressed transient emission tail in semiconductor diode laser

1. A method for generating single optical pulses of picosecond-range duration with suppressed transient emission tails in response to applying unipolar or bipolar injection-current pulses of picosecond-range duration to a semiconductor diode laser comprising: generating a sequence of picosecond-range unipolar or bipolar current pulses and applying said sequence of current pulses to a pre-biased semiconductor diode laser so that a first positive injection current pulse enables the semiconductor diode laser to generate a single optical output pulse, whereas the closing positive current pulse suppresses generation of a transient emission tail; wherein said semiconductor diode laser is a ring semiconductor diode laser.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a second positive current pulse is applied after a time delay when the optical response to the first current pulse has started to decline after reaching its first peak in a transient decay process, resulting in enhancement of the first intensity pulsation in terms of its duration by stretching of the optical pulse with no or little change in the amplitude and suppressing transient behavior.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a second positive current pulse is applied after a time delay before the optical response to said first current pulse has reached its first peak in a transient decay process, allowing for a build-up of carriers in an active region and resulting in enhancement of the first intensity pulsation in terms of its amplitude by amplification of the optical pulse with no or little change in its duration.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the amplitude of the closing positive or negative injection current pulse and its time delay are adjusted so as to ensure the most effective suppression of the transient emission tail.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the amplitude of the closing positive injection current pulse and its time delay are adjusted to suppress the transient emission tail.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein an additional pulse of positive or negative polarity is applied.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein an additional pulse of positive or negative polarity is applied.

8. The method claim 1 , wherein said ring diode laser is a whistle-geometry ring diode laser.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said semiconductor diode laser is strongly injection-locked by a master semiconductor diode laser.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said semiconductor diode laser is a whistle-geometry ring diode laser and it is strongly injection-locked by a master semiconductor diode laser.

11. A method of operating a semiconductor diode laser comprising the steps of providing a master semiconductor diode laser that controls slave laser dynamics via optical injection in order to generate single picosecond-range optical pulses with suppressed transient emission tails in response to applying injection-current pulses of picosecond-range duration applied to the slave laser.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said master laser and said slave laser are biased above threshold.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said master laser is biased above threshold and the slave laser is biased at its threshold.