60-fs pulses from a diode-pumped Nd:glass laser

We demonstrate 60-fs pulses with an average output power of 84 mW from a diode-pumped Nd:glass laser mode locked by a low-finesse antiresonant Fabry-Perot saturable absorber (A-FPSA). The mode-locked spectrum spreads over most of the available Nd:glass fluorescence bandwidth. At increased pulse energy fluence or decreased negative group-velocity dispersion, multiple pulsing was observed. We experimentally characterize this behavior, which can be explained by the saturation behavior of the A-FPSA and the limited available gain bandwidth. These considerations are significant for the design of saturable absorbers to achieve stable passive mode locking.     

Passively mode-locked Nd:LuVO(4) laser with a GaAs wafer

We report on the passive mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd:LuVO(4) laser with a GaAs wafer as output coupler. Using the interference modulation effect of the GaAs wafer, high-power continuous-wave mode locking with a pulse width of about 7.1 ps and an average output power of 3.11 W was achieved. Our result shows that Nd:LuVO(4) could be an excellent gain medium for diode-pumped high-power mode-locked lasers.     

Control of Q-switched mode locking by active feedback

It is demonstrated that Q-switching dynamics in mode-locked lasers can be controlled by use of an active feedback loop. Analytic design rules for the feedback loop are presented. Suppression of Q-switched mode locking in a diode-pumped, passively mode-locked Nd:YVO(4) laser is shown experimentally and numerically.     

High-power passively Q-switched mode-locking Nd:GdVO4 laser with LT-InGaAs saturable absorber

The generation of passively Q-switched mode-locking (QML) pulse has been obtained from a diode-pumped Nd:GdVO₄ laser with a LT-InGaAs wafer as saturable absorber as well as output coupler. Under the incident pump power of 10 W, an average output power of QML was 1.8 W with a Q-switched repetition rate of 280 kHz. The pulse duration of Q-switched pulse is about 160 ns and mode-locked pulse within the Q-switched envelope had a repetition rate of 410 MHz. It is indicated that the present LT-InGaAs is a very promising device in the field of mode locking solid-state laser, and we are sure that it will be complete pure cw mode locking with single beam output easily after further optimizing in the parameter such as saturation fluence, modulation depth, recovery time and damage threshold in semiconductors.     

Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser at 1342 nm with periodically poled LiNbO3

In this Letter, we demonstrate a nonlinear-mirror (NLM) mode-locked diode-pumped solid-state Nd:YVO4 laser operating at 1342?nm, in which the NLM comprises a periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal and a dichroic mirror. The self-starting threshold for cw mode locking is 1.5?W, which is significantly lower than that of saturable absorber mode locking. An average power of 1.52?W at 1342?nm is obtained under diode pump power of 10?W at 808?nm, with the slope efficiency being up to 16.8%. The pulse width and the repetition rate of the mode-locked laser output are about 9.5?ps and 101?MHz, respectively.     

Passive mode locking of a Nd:YVO4 laser with an extra-long optical resonator

We describe a mode-locked, diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser with a very long optical cavity operating at 1064 nm. High-modulation, InGaAs quantum-well, semiconductor saturable-absorber mirrors were used for passive mode locking, providing a stable train of 13-ps pulses. A novel zero-q-transformation multipass cell provided a variable-length optical cavity as much as 100 m long. The output beam had M2 < 1.1 at average powers of 4.1, 3.9, and 3.5 W at repetition rates of 4.1, 2.6, and 1.5 MHz, respectively. To the best of our knowledge the last of these is the lowest repetition rate ever generated directly from a mode-locked nonfiber solid-state laser without cavity dumping.     

Continuous-wave and femtosecond laser operation of Yb:CaGdAlO4 under high-power diode pumping

We demonstrate the generation of 68 fs secant hyperbolic pulses at a 105 MHz repetition rate with an average power of 520 mW from a diode-pumped Yb(3+):CaGdAlO(4) mode-locked laser. A semiconductor saturable absorber allows passive mode locking, and a 15 W diode laser is used to pump directly the crystal. To our knowledge this represents the highest average power ever obtained for a sub-100 fs diode-pumped Yb-bulk laser.     

Investigation on amplitude and frequency noise of injection-locked diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers

Amplitude and frequency stability of an injection-locked diode-pumped miniature Nd:YAG ring laser were measured. The mechanism of amplitude-noise transfer to the injection-locked slave laser was experimentally investigated and consequences for the injection locking of solid-state lasers operating at high output powers are discussed.     

连续锁模Nd∶YVO4激光器实现1 GHz高频输出

LD抽运全固体Nd∶YVO4激光器在连续锁模状态运转下获得了高达1 GHz的重复频率.实验中采用半导体可饱和吸收镜作为锁模元件.利用透过率只有0.8%的输出镜以及可获得较小抽运光斑的2 WLD作为抽运源来优化激光器设计,有效地抑制了调Q锁模状态的运转.低的激光器振荡阈值(35 mW)和连续锁模阈值(0.8 W)显示了饱和吸收体低的插入损耗和激光器合理的设计.在最大抽运1.6 W 时获得了210 mW的平均输出功率.     

连续锁模Nd：YVO4激光器实现1 GHz高频输出

LD抽运全固体Nd:YVO4激光器在连续锁模状态运转下获得了高达1 GHz的重复频率.实验中采用半导体可饱和吸收镜作为锁模元件.利用透过率只有0.8%的输出镜以及可获得较小抽运光斑的2 W LD作为抽运源来优化激光器设计,有效地抑制了调Q锁模状态的运转.低的激光器振荡阈值（35 mW）和连续锁模阈值(0.8 W)显示了饱和吸收体低的插入损耗和激光器合理的设计.在最大抽运1.6 W时获得了210 mW的平均输出功率.     

Self-starting mode-locked femtosecond forsterite laser with a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror

We report on a self-starting mode-locked femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser pumped by a diode-pumped Nd:YVO(4) laser. The mode locking is initiated by a semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror (SESAM). We also present the measured group delay of the forsterite crystal and the SESAM.     

Q-switched and continuous-wave mode-locking of a diode-pumped Nd:Gd0.64Y0.36VO4−Cr4+:YAG laser

We report on a diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:Gd_0.64Y_0.36VO₄ laser with a Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber. Q-switched mode locking (QML) with 90% modulation depth was obtained. The peak power of the mode-locked pulse near the maximum of the Q-switched envelope was estimated to be about 1.7 MW at the pump power of 12 W. Besides QML, continuous-wave mode locking was also experimentally realized, for the first time to our knowledge, in the laser under a strong intracavity pulse energy fluence. The mode-locked pulse width is about 2.96 ps at a repetition rate of 161.3 MHz.     

Ultrafast solid-state laser oscillators: a success story for the last 20 years with no end in sight

Ultrashort lasers provide an important tool to probe the dynamics of physical systems at very short time-scales, allowing for improved understanding of the performance of many devices and phenomena used in science, technology, and medicine. In addition ultrashort pulses also provide a high peak intensity and a broad optical spectrum, which opens even more applications such as material processing, nonlinear optics, attosecond science, and metrology. There has been a long-standing, ongoing effort in the field to reduce the pulse duration and increase the power of these lasers to continue to empower existing and new applications. After 1990, new techniques such as semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) and Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) allowed for the generation of stable pulse trains from diode-pumped solid-state lasers for the first time, and enabled the performance of such lasers to improve by several orders of magnitude with regards to pulse duration, pulse energy and pulse repetition rates. This invited review article gives a broad overview and includes some personal accounts of the key events during the last 20 years, which made ultrafast solid-state lasers a success story. Ultrafast Ti:sapphire, diode-pumped solid-state, and novel semiconductor laser oscillators will be reviewed. The perspective for the near future indicates continued significant progress in the field.     

Dynamical gain saturation in Kerr-lens mode-locked CW solid- state lasers

It is shown that dynamical gain saturation, usually neglected for solid-state lasers, can contribute significantly to the pulse-shaping mechanism in Kerr-lens mode-locked lasers. In particular, in combination with self-phase modulation it can cause red shifts and blue shifts of the laser spectrum. A control of the reciprocal gain and loss saturation rates using these shifts leads to improved mode- locking stability.     

基于传播圆补偿像散的被动锁模激光器谐振腔设计方法

由于超短脉冲激光器的谐振腔大都采用多镜折叠的形式,像散已成为影响锁模激光器性能优劣的重要问题.本文提出了一种基于传播圆补偿像散的被动锁模激光器谐振腔设计方法,该方法简单、直观、高效,容易找到补偿像散的最佳位置.理论研究表明,当SESAM位于子午和弧矢传播圆交汇处附近时,SESAM处的子午光斑和弧矢光斑大小几乎相等,像散得到补偿.该谐振腔对外界干扰引起的腔镜振动和热透镜焦距的变化均不敏感,谐振腔的抗干扰性很强.实验研究表明,当SESAM位于子午和弧矢传播圆交汇处附近时,锁模激光器可获得稳定连续的锁模激光脉冲,且激光器的抗干扰性很强.本文的理论研究与实验结果相一致.     

Raman fiber laser pumped by a semiconductor disk laser and mode locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

A 1.6μm mode-locked Raman fiber laser pumped by a 1480nm semiconductor disk laser is demonstrated. Watt-level core pumping of the single-mode fiber Raman lasers with low-noise disk lasers together with semiconductor saturable absorber mirror mode locking represents a highly practical solution for short-pulse operation.     

Frequency offset locking of a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser

We have developed a scheme of frequency offset locking for transferring the frequency stability of a commercial dye laser to a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser. By observing the beat frequency between the two dye lasers, mode stability of less than 2 MHz has been observed for the mode-locked dye laser mode. The use of the mode-locked system as a spectroscopic tool has been demonstrated by observing Doppler-free multiple pulse two photon spectra of the sodium 3S-4D transition.     

Simple ABCD matrix treatment for transversely varying saturable gain

We have developed an ABCD matrix that, for the first time to our knowledge, accurately describes the transformation of a Gaussian beam by a medium with transversely varying saturable gain. In contrast with the conventional ABCD matrix, the newly developed matrix is shown to be in excellent agreement with a full beam propagation code over a wide parameter range. Accurate treatment of transversely varying saturable gain in laser resonators is important for the optimization of end-pumped lasers, particularly for efficient diode-pumped solid-state and Kerr-lens mode-locked systems.     

Passive mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd:Gd 0.64 Y 0.36 VO 4 laser with a GaAs saturable absorber mirror

We report a diode-pumped Nd:Gd_0.64Y_0.36VO₄ laser passively mode locked by using a GaAs saturable absorber mirror. Both the Q-switched and continuous-wave (CW) mode locking were experimentally realized. The CW mode-locked pulses have a pulse width of about 8.8 ps at a repetition rate of 161.3 MHz. Limited by the available pump power, a maximum output power of 2.47 W was obtained for the CW mode-locked pulses with a slope efficiency of about 26.6%.     

Broadly tunable femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser

We demonstrate wavelength tunability of femtosecond pulses over a range of more than 50 nm from a diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser. The mode-locking mechanism can be explained by soliton mode locking that is started and stabilized by a broadband semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror designed for low loss over the full reflection bandwidth of the underlying Bragg mirrors, which ultimately limits tunability. We obtain 45-fs pulses at 105-mW average output power and a maximum mode-locked average output power of 125 mW with 60-fs pulses.