Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber

We have demonstrated a passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber (ICSSA). Stable Q-switched and mode-locked pulses with Q-switched envelope pulse duration of 180 ns and pulse repetition rate of 72 KHz have been obtained. The maximum average output power was 1.45 W at 8 W incident pump power. The repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched envelope was 154 MHz. Experimental results revealed that this ICSSA was suitable for Q-switched and mode-locked solid-state lasers.     

Analysis of a laser-diode end-pumped intracavity frequency-doubled passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript>/KTP laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber

A diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locked (QML) intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO₄/KTP green laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber is presented. Nearly 100% modulation depth for the mode-locked green pulses can be achieved at any pump power over 1.92 W. The width of the mode-locked green pulse was estimated to be about 150 ps. The mode-locked pulse interval within the Q-switched envelope of 320 ns and the repetition rate of 97.5 kHz were obtained, at an incident pump power of 4.4 W. The repetition rate of the mode-locked green pulses inside the Q-switched envelope was 140 MHz.     

Self-Q-switched and mode-locked 946 nm Cr,Nd:YAG laser

A simultaneous self-Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped 946 nm laser by using a Cr,Nd:YAG crystal as gain medium as well as saturable absorber is demonstrated for the first time as we know. The maximum average output power of 751 mW with a slope efficiency of 18.38% is obtained at an intra-cavity average peak power intensity of 4.83 × 10⁶ W/cm². Under this circumstance, the repetition rate of Q-switched envelopes is 9.63 kHz and the pulse width is about 460 ns. Almost 100% mode-locked modulation depth is obtained at all time in the experiment process whether the incident pump power is low or high. The repetition rate of mode-locked pulses within a Q-switched envelope is 135.13 MHz and the mode-locked pulse width is within 600 ps. The laser produces high-quality pulses in TEM₀₀-mode in the simultaneous self-Q-switched and mode-locked experiment.     

Diode end-pumped self-Q-switched and mode-locked Nd,Cr：YAG /KTP green laser

We first experimentally demonstrate a laser-diode end-pumped self-Q-switched and mode-locked Nd,Cr:YAG green laser with a KTP crystal as the intra-cavity frequency doubler. The device produces an average output power of 680 mW at 532 nm. The corresponding pulse width of the Q-switched envelope of the green laser is 170±20 ns. The mode-locked pulses have a repetition rate of approximately 183 MHz and the average pulse duration is estimated to be around sub-nanosecond. It is found that the intra-cavity frequency doubling greatly improves the modulation depth and stability of the mode-locked pulses within the Q-switched envelope.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd:YLF laser with uncoated GaAs saturable absorber

We have demonstrated passively Q-switched mode-locked all-solid-state Nd:YLF laser with an uncoated GaAs wafer as saturable absorber and output mirror simultaneously. Q-switched mode-locking pulses laser with about 100% modulation depth were obtained. The average output power is 890 mW at the incident pump power of 5.76 W, corresponding to an optical slop efficiency of 20%. The temporal duration of mode-locked pulses was about 21 ps. At the Q-switched repetition rate of 30 kHz, the energy and peak power of a single pulse near the maximum of the Q-switched envelope was estimated to be about 1.6 μJ and 76 kW.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locking Nd:Y0.5Gd0.5VO4 laser at 1.34 μm with Co2+:LaMgAl11O19 saturable absorber

We reporte a passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:Y_0.5Gd_0.5VO₄ laser at 1.34 μm with Co²⁺:LaMgAl₁₁O₁₉(Co:LMA) crystal as the saturable absorber. With the incident pump power of 6.56 W, a maximum output power of 242 mW was obtained. Q-switched mode-locking pulses with modulation depth nearly 100% were obtained. The width of the mode-locked pulse was estimated to be less than 600 ps.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd:LuVO4 laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We present a compact passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd:LuVO₄ laser run in a Z-type folded cavity with semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The repetition rates of the passively Q-switched pulse envelope ranges from 22.99 to 141.18 kHz as the pump power increased from 2.372 to 8.960 W. The repetition rates of mode-locked laser pulses in the Q-switched pulse envelope has 111 MHz determined by the cavity length and the mode-locked pulse duration is evaluated to be 257 ps. An average output power of 823.5 mW is achieved at the pump power of 8.96 W, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 9.2%.     

Diode array pumped, non-linear mirror Q-switched and mode-locked Nd : YVO4 laser — a good tool for powder SHG measurement

A non-linear mirror consisting of a lithium triborate crystal and a dichroic output coupler are used to mode-lock (passively) an Nd : YVO₄ laser, pumped by a diode laser array. The laser can operate both in cw mode-locked and simultaneously Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) regime. The peak power of the laser while operating in QML regime is much higher but pulses suffers from poor amplitude stability. The incorporation of an acousto-optic modulator as an active Q-switch enhances the stability of the QML pulse envelope. The second-order non-linearity of powdered crystalline urea is conclusively measured with respect to KDP while the laser is operating in passively Q-switched and passively mode-locked regime as well as in actively Q-switched and passively mode-locked regime.     

Simultaneous Q switching and mode locking with narrow envelope width in a microchip Nd:YVO4 laser with a composite semiconductor absorber

By using a composite semiconductor absorber and an output coupler, we demonstrated a Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped microchip Nd:YVO₄ laser. With a 350-μm-thick crystal, the width of the Q-switched envelope was as short as 12 ns; the repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched pulse was more than 10 GHz. The average output power was 335 mW at a maximum pump power of 1.6 W. Q-switched envelope widths of 21 and 31 ns were also achieved with crystals 0.7 and 1.0 mm thick, respectively.     

Characterization of laser-diode end-pumped intracavity frequency doubled, passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser

Simultaneous Q-switching and mode-locking in a laser-diode end-pumped intracavity frequency doubled Nd:YVO₄/KTP green laser using Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber is experimentally demonstrated. The influence of the initial transmission (T₀) of the Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal on the Q-switched mode-locked green pulses as well as on the average green power is characterized by using Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal with various T₀. The effect of T₀ on the pulse build-up time in intracavity second harmonic configuration is theoretically investigated. It was found that the depth of modulation for the mode-locked pulses is greatly improved at the second harmonic wavelength as compared to that for the fundamental wavelength. The average pulse duration of the individual mode-locked pulse for the second harmonic beam measured to be less than 500 ps with a repetition rate of 400 MHz.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:Lu<Subscript>0.15</Subscript>Y<Subscript>0.85</Subscript>VO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser with a GaAs saturable absorber

By using a-cut Nd:Lu_0.15Y_0.85VO₄ mixed crystal as laser gain medium, a diode-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) laser with a GaAs saturable absorber in a Z-type folded cavity is demonstrated for the first time. The Q-switched mode-locked laser pulses with about 90% modulation depth are obtained as long as the pump power reached the oscillation threshold. The repetition rate of the passively Q-switched pulse envelope ranges from 50 to 186 kHz as the pump power increases from 0.915 to 6.520 W. Under an incident pump power of 6.52 W, the QML pulses with the largest average output power of 694 mW, the shortest pulse width of 200 ns and the highest pulse energy of 3.73 μJ are obtained. The mode-locked pulse width inside the Q-switched envelope is estimated to be about 275 ps. The experimental results show that Nd:Lu_0.15Y_0.85VO₄ is a promising mixed crystal for QML laser.     

Passively Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser with LT-GaAs output coupler

We have demonstrated an efficient and compact passively Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) 1064 nm Nd:YVO₄ laser by using a low temperature grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) saturable absorber as well as an output coupler. Stable QML with envelope duration as short as 10 ns and Q-switched repetition rate of 36 kHz was obtained. It is the shortest envelope duration as far as we know, and it is so short that it can be used as Q-switching pulses directly. At 6.9 W of the incident pump power, average output power of 1.24 W was achieved and the corresponding peak power and energy of a single Q-switched pulse were 3.44 kW and 34.4 μJ, respectively. The mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched pulse envelope had a repetition rate of 780 MHz.     

Actively Q-switched mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser with high mode-locking contrast

Reliable Q-switched and mode-locked operation of Yb-doped fiber lasers is investigated by employing an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) in a linear cavity configuration. The widths and shapes of the Q-switched envelopes mainly depend on the external modulation frequency of the AOM and near symmetric Q-switched pulses can be generated. Within the Q-switched envelopes, harmonic mode-locked pulses with near 100% modulation depth at the 40 MHz repetition rate are experimentally observed.     

Compact and efficient Kerr-lens mode-locked diode-pumped actively Q-switched YVO4-Nd:YVO4 laser

By using a simple linear configuration, a stable and efficient YVO₄-Nd:YVO₄ laser, actively Q-switched by an acousto-optic modulator and passively mode-locked by KLM is realized, from which the great average output power, the high efficiency are obtained and the mode-locked pulse inside the Q-switched pulse has a repetition rate of 470 MHz. The nearly 100% modulation depth of the Q-switched mode-locked pulses can be obtained at any pump power over the threshold. Considering the Kerr-lens effect of laser medium and Q-switching by an acousto-optic modulator, we have analyzed the self-mode-locked YVO₄-Nd:YVO₄ laser by using the nonlinear ABCD propagation matrix and the hyperbolic fluctuation mechanism. The numerical solutions are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

LD side-pumped high beam quality passive Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YAG laser based on SESAM

We report a LD side-pumped fundamental-mode (Mx² = 1.35 and My² = 1.27) passive Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YAG laser based on a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). At a pump current of 12.5 A, the average output power of 5.68 W with 80 kHz repetition rate and 2 μs pulse width of the Q-switched envelope was generated. The repetition rate of the mode-locked pulse within the Q-switched envelope of 88 MHz was achieved.     

Analytical and experimental studies on the diode-pumped,simultaneously Q-switched and mode-locked c-cut Nd:GdVO<Subscript> 4</Subscript>/KTP green laser with LT-GaAs absorber

A diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locked (QML) intracavity frequency doubled c-cut Nd:GdVO₄/KTP green laser with a LT-GaAs saturable absorber is presented. More than 90% modulation depth for the mode-locked green pulses has been achieved. Using the hyperbolic secant function methods, a developed rate equation model for Q-switched and mode-locked lasers considering the Gaussian spatial distribution of the intracavity photon intensity, the influences of continuous pump rate, the upper state lifetime of the active medium, and the excited-state lifetime of the saturable absorber, was proposed. With this developed model, the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental results and the width of the mode-locked green pulse was estimated to be about 380 ps.     

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%.     

Doubly passively Q-switched and mode-locked laser with V<Superscript>3+</Superscript>:YAG and Co:LMA saturable absorbers

By using both V³⁺:YAG and Co:LMA saturable absorbers, an xenon-lamp-pumped doubly passively Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) Nd:YAG laser at 1.3 μm in a straight cavity is realized for the first time. The modulation depth of QML pulse has nearly reached 100%. The experimental results shows that the doubly passively Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) laser can generate shorter Q-switch envelope pulse with higher average peak power in comparison to the singly passively QML laser with V³⁺:YAG or Co:LMA saturable absorber.     

Stacking chirped pulse optical parametric amplification

Stacking chirped pulse optical parametric amplification based on a home-built Yb³⁺-doped mode-locked fiber laser and an all-fiber pulse stacker has been demonstrated. Energic 11 mJ shaped pulses with pulse duration of 2.3 ns and a net total gain of higher than 1.1 × 10⁷ at fluctuation less than 2% rms are achieved by optical parametric amplification pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG frequency-doubled laser, which provides a simple and efficient amplification scheme for temporally shaped pulses by stacking chirped pulse.     

准连续主动锁模调QNd:YLF振荡器

顺利建成了用于磷酸盐钕玻璃激光核聚变系统的准连续主动锁模调Q Nd:YLF振荡器。报道了其稳定性、可靠性和高信噪比的特性。