A technique based on the design of an optimized source of pico-second optical pulses, which exhibits excellent temporal and spectral purity, is presented. The procedure entails an initial complete intensity and chirp characterization of pulses, from an externally injected-gain switched laser (EI-GSL), using the technique of frequency resolved optical gating (FROG). This characterization yields the parameters that are required for the design of a non-linearly chirped fibre Bragg grating (NC FBG) with a chirp profile that is opposite to that measured across the pulse. By employing the tailor made NC FBG after the gain-switched laser, direct compression of the gain-switched pulses is achieved, to obtain pedestal-free, near transform-limited, 7 ps pulses. The system viability, characterized by simulations, portrays a 6 dB difference in performance between a pulse source with insufficient TPSR and one that exhibits adequate TPSR &(ge; 30 dB).