Regenerative Talbot Laser for Generating Tunable Pulse Train With a Low Phase Noise

We propose and demonstrate an improved Talbot laser including a regenerative RF feedback loop. This architecture greatly enhances both amplitude and noise performances of the pulsed laser, while preserving the broadband tunability of its repetition rate. The phase noise power spectral density of the associated RF signal is found to be independent of the repetition rate. For a 4.9 GHz repetition rate, the timing jitter is as low as 54 fs (integrated between 10 kHz and 100 MHz offset frequency). This architecture paves the way towards tunable high performances coupled opto-electronic microwave oscillators.