Buildup of steady-state picosecond pulses in an actively mode-locked laser-diode array

We have studied experimentally the temporal and spectral characteristics of an actively mode-locked laser-diode array in an external cavity as it evolves to the steady state. It is found that the buildup time to steady-state picosecond pulses takes less than 45 round trips. The number of clusters of the longitudinal-mode spectrum reduces during the evolution and finally approaches a steady-state spectral distribution with the pulse energy mainly distributed among a few clusters near the line center.