Broadening the linewidth of a semiconductor laser

摘要

The invention is directed to a system and a method for controllably broadening the spectral characteristics, such as the emission linewidth, of a semiconductor laser by discharging an electric pulse, for example, a charged transmission line, across the laser terminals. The linewidth-broadened lasers find application in fiber optic sensors, such as fiber optic gyroscopes and current sensors, which have a relatively short de-coherence length.