D. Burns

Dual-wavelength self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser.

A self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser system has been constructed that simultaneously generates sequences of femtosecond pulses at two independent wavelength regions. This dual-wavelength, self-mode-locked operation has been shown to exhibit a high degree of synchronization, and the relative timing jitter has been deduced to be 52 fs.

Passive coupled-cavity mode-locked color-center lasers

Stable, self-starting operation of a coupled-cavity mode-locked KCl:T1(0)(1) color-center laser has been achieved by incorporating a semiconductor diode optical amplifier into the control cavity. By adjustment of the amplifier drive current, nonlinearity in the regimes of either saturable gain or saturable absorption has been exploited to generate subpicosecond pulses. Under conditions of saturable gain, pulse durations as short as 280 fs were obtained. Self-starting has also been demonstrated for a coupled-cavity mode-locked NaCl:OH(-) color-center laser by using the same technique.

Low-threshold diode-pumped femtosecond Cr(3+):LiSrAlF(6) laser.

Routes toward minimizing the self-mode-locking threshold of an all-solid-state diode-laser-pumped Cr(3+):LiSrAlF(6) laser are considered. Sub-100-fs-duration pulses have been generated at pump powers below 100 mW by exploitation of a low-astigmatism cavity configuration in conjunction with a high-brightness self-injection-locked semiconductor laser pump module.

All-solid-state femtosecond Cr3+:LiSAF lasers pumped at 532 nm and 670 nm

Abstract The potential of Cr:LiSAF as a gain medium has been investigated in two distinct self-modelocked laser systems. A novel green-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser, employing a 22%-Cr3+ -doped crystal, has produced up to 120 mW output power and readily generated transform-limited pulses of 90 fs. However, thermal problems present severe limitations on power scaling of such Cr:LiSAF laser systems. A red-diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser has also been constructed following consideration of the parameters which limit the production of ultrashort pulses at low pump powers. This laser produces sub-100 fs pulses when pumped with less than 100 mW pump power and offers the prospect of the development of ultralow-threshold self-modelocked laser configurations.