Generation of pulses as short as 93 fs from self-starting femtosecond Cr:LiSrAlF(6) lasers by exploiting multiple-quantum-well absorbers.

A Cr:LiSrAIF(6) laser has been mode locked by using a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) absorber. With the MQW absorber inside the laser cavity, Kerr lens mode locking is initiated, yielding transform-limited pulses as short as 93 fs. Pulses of 500-fs duration have also been produced by using resonant passive mode locking with the MQW absorber in an external cavity.

Mode-locked all-solid-state diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser.

A diode-pumped mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser is demonstrated for what is to our knowledge the first time. Active mode locking, with an acousto-optic modulator, and resonant passive mode locking, with a multiple-quantum-well absorber in an external cavity, have both yielded cw trains of picosecond pulses.

Generation of subpicosecond high-power optical pulses from a hybrid mode-locked semiconductor laser.

Ultrashort optical pulses 0.46 psec in duration with over 70 W of peak power are generated from an all-semiconductor laser-diode system. These results represent to our knowledge both the shortest and most-intense optical pulses generated from an all-semiconductor laser system.