Abstract
The effects of group velocity dispersion and free carrier lifetime on pulse compression efficiency and pulse quality is investigated in a silicon-based optical pulse compressor. A slightly higher amount of pulse energy is carried in the pulse pedestals in the presence of free carriers. The compression efficiency is observed to decrease monotonically as the pulse repetition rate is increased. Compressed pulses with <;10% of the pulse energy in the pedestals may be derived by appropriately designing the dispersion in the pulse compressor.