Synchronous tunable picosecond surface emitting lasers by optical gain-switching

Generation of sub-100 ps pulses tunable over 48 nm is demonstrated by optically gain-switching a MEMS-vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). A minimum pulse width of 61 ps and a maximum, unamplified peak power of 28 mW are demonstrated. The polarization stability of the VCSELs allows amplification with a polarization-dependent semiconductor optical amplifier, resulting in pulse compression to 57 ps with a peak power of 932 mW. The low threshold power (average <1 mW) enables simultaneous pumping of multiple lasers for the generation of synchronized, independently tunable picosecond pulses.