Optical characteristics of semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors investigated by the reflection Z-scan technique

Recently, the semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) has become a key component of passive mode-locked solid-state lasers. Here we present a simple method based on the reflection Z-scan technique to measure the key optical parameters of SESAM such as saturation fluence and modulation depth. The experimental results demonstrate that our method is able to perform with a high accuracy of 10⁻⁴ and a dynamic range of over four orders of magnitude.     

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.     

A diode-pumped, self-starting, all-solid-state self-mode-locked Cr:LiSGAF laser

In this paper, a self-starting, diode-pumped self-mode-locked Cr:LiSGAF laser, which produced a stable pulse train of 45 fs duration with about 20 mW-average power at the repeated rate of 90 MHz, was presented. Self-mode-locked operation can be obtained whether there is the semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) in the Cr:LiSGAF laser cavity or not, and with the SESAM in the cavity, the self-mode-locked operation could self-start. The shortest pulses, as short as 38 fs, which were not very stable, were obtain with the SESAM in the cavity.     

半导体激光器端面泵浦 Nd∶YAG激光器用In_(0.25)Ga_(0.75) As吸收体被动锁模兼做输出镜

用金属有机气相淀积方法生长了一种新型的吸收体——低温InGaAs(LT-In0.25Ga0.75As).用这种吸收体兼做输出镜,实现了1.06μm半导体端面泵浦Nd∶YAG激光器被动锁模,脉冲宽度为皮秒量级,重复率为150MHz     

半导体可饱和吸收镜被动锁模侧面抽运Nd:YAG激光器研究

利用半导体可饱和吸收镜(SESAM)锁模技术实现的超快脉冲激光器具有结构简单紧凑、脉冲序列稳定等优势,在许多领域有着重要用途,自问世以来受到国内外的广泛关注.分析了SESAM被动锁模侧面抽运固体激光器的具体要求,进行了不同条件下的SESAM被动锁模侧面抽运Nd:YAG激光器实验.获得了最高平均功率9.5 W,脉冲重复频率71 MHz,单脉冲能量约141 nJ的皮秒激光脉冲.对SESAM被动锁模侧面抽运Nd:YAG激光器进行了实验和理论分析,对实现高功率连续超短脉冲激光器进行了探讨.     

A 12.1-W SESAM mode-locked Yb:YAG thin disk laser

Pumped by a 940 nm fiber-coupled diode laser, a passively mode-locked Yb:YAG thin disk oscillator was demonstrated with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror(SESAM). 12.1 W mode-locked pulses were obtained with pulse duration of 698 fs at the repetition rate of 57.43 MHz. Measurement showed that the beam quality was close to the diffraction limit.     

3.9 MHz被动锁模Nd∶YVO4皮秒激光器的实验研究

报道了一种具有热稳腔设计实现1064 nm皮秒脉冲激光输出的被动锁模Nd∶YVO4激光器。并在此基础上,不改变锁模条件激光模式的同时引入Herriott型多程腔来增加腔长,使总腔长达到38.7 m。采用光纤耦合输出的808 nm激光二极管对Nd∶YVO4晶体进行端面抽运,以半导体可饱和吸收镜作为被动锁模元件,获得了重复频率低至3.9 MHz的皮秒激光脉冲,脉宽为60 ps。在泵浦功率为10 W时,平均输出功率为2.6 W,对应单脉冲能量0.67 μJ,x和y方向的光束质量因子分别为1.01和1.11。     

CW mode locked Nd:YVO4 laser pumped by 20-W laser diode bar

The efficient cw mode locking (cw-ML) regime was demonstrated in Nd:YVO₄ laser by means of saturable absorber mirror (SAM). The 0.3-at.% Nd³⁺ doped 10-mm-long YVO₄ crystal end pumped by 20-W diode module with a beam shaper was applied as a gain medium located in the close vicinity to the rear flat mirror of the first arm of Z-type resonator of 316 cm total length with two curved mirrors of 100-cm curvature radii. The SAM of 2%-saturable absorptance and saturation fluence of 50 μJ/cm² was mounted at the opposite end of a resonator. The developed “dynamically stable” cavity design mitigates detrimental role of thermal aberration in gain medium, enforcing clean perfect mode locking even for the highest pump densities. The cw-ML pulses with 47.5 MHz repetition rate and pulse durations in the range of 15–20 ps were observed for a wide range of pump powers and output coupler losses. In the best case, for 32% of output coupler transmission, up to 6.2 W of average power with near 35% slope efficiency was achieved. The thresholds for Q-switched ML, cw-ML regimes were 2.67 W and 6.13 W of pump power, respectively. For the maximum pump power of 20 W we obtained 133 nJ of pulse energy with 16-ps pulse duration, resulting in a peak power higher than 8 kW. The threshold energy density at SAM giving the QML regime was estimated to be about 30 μJ/cm², threshold of cw-ML regime was 220 μJ/cm².     

含负克尔效应半导体可饱和吸收镜的五镜腔飞秒钛宝石激光器的理论分析

基于半导体可饱和吸收镜(SESAM)的负克尔效应，对含SESAM的五镜腔进行了理论计算和分析.结果表明，由于SESAM的负克尔效应，与没有SESAM的相比，锁模激光器的稳区在上稳区的内边缘有明显扩展，这使得激光器锁模启动的工作点更加靠近直流运转时的稳区边缘，从而获得更大的非线性因子.这说明SESAM的可饱和吸收机理具有锁模自启动效应外，其负克尔效应也有助于锁模的自启动. 关键词： 半导体可饱和吸收镜 负克尔效应 五镜腔