The design and operation of a stable ultrashort light pulse generator using a GaAlAs single heterostructure laser diode is presented. The unit is capable of generating optical pulses at a wavelength of 820 nm as narrow as 60 ps full width at half maximum (FWHM) at pulse repetition rates up to 10 kHz with a peak power of 3 W. The light pulses are emitted from a flexible light pipe with relatively small jitter of less than plusmn;10 ps. Single pulses without any subpulses were confirmed by direct measurements using a streak camera system having a temporal resolution of better than 10 ps. This generator will find applications in the study and evaluation of time characteristics of fast photodetectors, optoelectronic devices, etc.
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