Detection of pulse to pulse timing jitter in periodically gain-switched semiconductor lasers

Methods to assess pulse to pulse timing jitter in periodicallly gain-switched semiconductor lasers are investigated. The power spectrum of the optical pulse train for mutually incoherent fluctuations of the turn-on delay time and the pulse amplitude is calculated. The result shows that a measurement of the power spectrum alone is not sufficient for the characterization of the inherent timing jitter. Additional knowledge of the optical waveform and the transfer characteristics of the detection system is necessary.