Very high amplitude, minimal chirp optical pulse generation at 1.55 mu m using multicontact DFBs and an erbium doped fibre amplifier

A novel method of obtaining chirp minimised gain switched pulses of very high amplitude and contrast ratio is presented. 75 ps wide pulses at a 1.5 GHz repetition rate, with a -20 dB bandwidth of 4.7 AA are demonstrated. This is the first time that chirp has been minimised for DFB lasers without the compromise of the pulse definition.