High-efficiency and compact semiconductor lasers with monolithically integrated switches for generation of high-power nanosecond pulses in time-of-flight (TOF) systems

We present a new approach based on the integration of the functions of a high-efficiency current switch and a laser emitter into a single heterostructure as elements of time-of-flight (TOF) systems. The approach being developed employs the effect of an electrical bistability, which occurs in the general case in thyristor structures. We report recent results obtained in a study of the dynamic electrical and optical characteristics of the pulsed sources we developed. An effective generation of 2- to 100-ns laser pulses at a wavelength of 905 nm is demonstrated. The possibility of generating laser pulses shorter than 1 ns is considered. The maximum peak power reached values of 7 and 50 W for 10- and 100-ns pulses, respectively.