Passively mode-locked Tm,Ho:YAG laser at 2 microm based on saturable absorption of intersubband transitions in quantum wells.

We report the first demonstration of a solid state laser passively mode-locked through the saturable absorption of short-wavelength intersubband transitions in doped quantum wells: a continuous wave Ti:sapphire laser end-pumped Tm,Ho:YAG laser at the center wavelength of 2.091 mum utilizing intersubband transitions in narrow In(0.53)Ga(0.47)As/Al(0.53)As(0.47)Sb quantum wells. Stable passive mode-locking operation with maximum average output power of up to 160 mW for 2.9 W of the absorbed pump power could last for hours without external interruption and a mode-locked pulse with duration of 60 ps at repetition rate of 106.5 MHz was generated.

Subpicosecond thin-disk laser oscillator with pulse energies of up to 25.9 microjoules by use of an active multipass geometry.

The pulse shaping dynamics of a diode-pumped laser oscillator with active multipass cell was studied experimentally and numerically. We demonstrate the generation of high energy subpicosecond pulses with a pulse energy of up to 25.9 microJ at a pulse duration of 928 fs directly from a thin-disk laser oscillator. These results are achieved by employing a selfimaging active multipass geometry operated in ambient atmosphere. Stable single pulse operation has been obtained with an average output power in excess of 76 W and at a repetition rate of 2.93 MHz. Self starting passive mode locking was accomplished using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. The experimental results are compared with numerical simulations, showing good agreement including the appearance of Kelly sidebands. Furthermore, a modified soliton-area theorem for approximating the pulse duration is presented.

Passively mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk laser with pulse energies exceeding 13 microJ by use of an active multipass geometry.

We demonstrate the generation of high-energy picosecond pulses directly from a thin-disk laser oscillator by employing a self-imaging active multipass geometry. Stable single-pulse operation has been obtained with an average output power in excess of 50 W, excluding a cw background of 8%, at a repetition rate of 3.8 MHz. Self-starting passive mode locking was accomplished using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. The maximum pulse energy was 13.4 microJ at a pulse duration of 1.36 ps with a time-bandwidth product of 0.34. Single-pass external frequency doubling with a conversion efficiency of 60% yielded >28 W of average power at 515 nm.