Abstract
Wavelength-tunable picosecond pulses have been generated from an actively mode-locked laser diode array in an external cavity. The cavity incorporated a folded dispersive delay line which provided functions of pulse compression, wavelength tuning and spatial mode control. By varying the group velocity dispersion inside the cavity, the laser pulse width was intra-cavity compressed from 44 to 25 ps. The laser wavelength was tuned from 794 to 806 nm by translating a stripe end mirror horizontally with respect to the optical axis. The side mode suppression ratio was better than 10 dB over the entire tuning range. The spatial mode was a quasi-single-lobe.