Optical short pulses with a pulse width of 200 picoseconds are generated at a repetition rate of 1 GHz, by using delayed optoelectronic feed back in a diode laser. The effect of the delay time on the pulse width and repetition rate depends on the type of the feedback network. The pulse repetition rate decreases as the delay time increases in a system with a wide-band lowpass feedback network. On the contrary, it is almost independent of the delay time and approximately determined by the center frequency of the feedback network in a system with a narrow bandpass feedback network. Experimental results are in reasonable agreement with computer simulations based upon the rate-equation formulation.
