Ultralow timing jitter picosecond pulse generation from electrically gain-switched oxidized vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Ultralow timing jitter picosecond optical pulses are generated by electrically gain switching oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) at repetition rates of up to 10.0 GHz. Timing jitter as low as 1.2 ps is measured, which is at least four times lower than that measured for implanted VCSEL's. The ultralow timing jitter is attributed to the high level of spontaneous coupling in the oxide-confined VCSEL due to multimode operation resulting from the index guiding properties of the oxide layer.