Narrow line high power picosecond pulse generation in a multicontact distributed feedback laser using modified Q switching

High power bandwidth-limited picosecond pulses with peak powers in excess of 200 mW have been generated using multicontact distributed feedback laser diodes for the first time. The pulses have widths typically less than 10 ps, time-bandwidth products of as little as 0.24, and can be generated on demand at generator limited repetition rates of up to 140 MHz.