Femtosecond pulse generation with an a-cut Nd:CaYAlO4 disordered crystal.

We experimentally demonstrated a diode-pumped 587 fs ultrafast laser by using an a-cut Nd:CaYAlO4 crystal. Pumped by an 808 nm fiber-coupled laser diode, a stable continuous-wave mode-locked ultrafast laser was achieved with a semiconductor saturable absorber. The ultrafast pulses had a repetition rate of 75 MHz at the center wavelength of 1080.8 nm. A maximum average output power of the mode-locked laser reached 375 mW delivering a slope efficiency of 9%.