Pulse-Width Jitter Measurement for Laser Diode Pulses

Theoretical analysis and experimental measurement of pulse-width jitter of diode laser pulses are presented. The expression of pulse power spectra with all amplitude jitter, timing jitter and pulse-width jitter is deduced. The power spectra with and without pulse-width jitter are numerically simulated. The simulation results indicate that the pulse-width jitter will contribute considerably noise to the pulse power spectrum while the product of pulse width and angular frequency is larger than 1. The experimental measurement of pulse-width jitter of a gain-switched Fabry--Perot laser diode with 2.4GHz repetition rate is also reported. In comparison of the noise power spectra of the first, fourth and seventh harmonics of the pulse repetition rate, 2.3ps pulse-width jitter is obtained.