Feature

Ultrashort Pulses from Semiconductor Lasers

D. J. Eilenberger, Y. Silberberg, P. W. Smith, Bell Communications Research; and D. A. B. Miller

Using ultrashort light pulses for communications systems will require suitable commercial lasers, rather than the cumbersome laboratory models available to date. AT&T Bell Laboratories has recently developed a mode-locking technique for generating just such pulses in commercial laser diodes.