Pulse duration retrieval using a commercial laser diode with a monitor photodiode

2025/11/09 by Chlebowski, Adrian F., Sterczewski, Lukasz A., Sotor, Jaroslaw
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Advanced Photonic Communication Systems #FOS: Physical sciences #Optics (physics.optics) #Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.06550

openalex publication_date 2025/11/09 · openalex created_date 2025/11/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Semiconductor lasers merge coherent light emission with photodetection and, owing to third-order nonlinearities in their active region, function as sensitive room temperature two-photon absorption (TPA) detectors. Here, we leverage these capabilities offered by a commercially available InGaAsP semiconductor laser diode with an integrated InGaAs monitor photodiode to measure the duration of femtosecond pulses at telecom wavelengths. The nonlinear and linear signals obtained from both detectors enable the retrieval of pulse duration with femtosecond accuracy without moving parts. This capability is demonstrated down to 2 μW average optical power for a 250 MHz repetition rate laser.

Citations

• Sensitive and accurate femtosecond pulse characterization via two-photon absorption in Fabry-Pérot laser diodes
• Measuring ultrafast laser pulses using a single-shot amplitude swing implementation

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