Continuous-wave mode-locked Cr(4+):YAG laser.

A cw room-temperature Cr(4+):YAG laser, tuning from 1.37 to 1.51 microm, is described. Mode locking of this novel laser is reported for what is to our knowledge the first time.

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.

Continuously self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser that produces sub-50-fs pulses.

An external cavity coupled to a dispersion-compensated, self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser is shown to maintain cw mode locking to produce pulses as short as 47 fs. The same cavity arrangement is also shown to generate transform-limited pulses of 2-ps duration in the regime of linear external cavity mode locking.

Generation of 33-fs pulses from a passively mode-locked Cr(3+):LiSrAlF(6) laser.

Femtosecond and picosecond operating regimes of an argon-ion-pumped Cr(3+):LiSrAlF(6) laser, passively mode locked using a saturable absorber, are described. At low absorber concentrations, self-starting cw mode locking is demonstrated, which yields pulses as short as 33 fs after extracavity prism compensation. At higher concentrations, both cw mode-locked and Q-switched mode-locked operation is possible. the recovery time of the absorber is discussed.