RESUMO
Generation of femtosecond pulses from a continuous-wave mode-locked chromium-doped forsterite (Cr (4+):Mg(2)SiO(4)) laser is reported. The forsterite laser was actively mode locked by using an acousto-optic modulator operating at 78 MHz with two Brewster high-dispersion glass prisms for intracavity chirp compensation. Transform-limited sub-100-fs pulses were routinely generated in the TEM(00) mode with 85 mW of continuous power (with 1% output coupler), tunable over 1230-1280 nm. The shortest pulses had a 60-fs pulse width.
RESUMO
The slope efficiency of the continuous-wave chromium-doped forsterite (Cr:Mg(2)SiO(4)) laser has been measured by using four different output mirrors. The maximum slope efficiency of 38% was achieved with an 11% output coupler. The extrapolated limiting slope efficiency in the absence of passive losses is estimated to be 65%. This value corresponds to an intrinsic quantum efficiency of 77%, which is similar to the efficiencies determined for mature tunable solid-state laser systems.
RESUMO
Mode-locked operation of chromium-doped forsterite (Cr:Mg(2)SiO(4)) has been achieved for the first time to our knowledge. The chromium-doped forsterite laser has been mode locked by using two methods: active mode locking, which produced pulses as short as 31 ps tunable between 1204 and 1277 nm, and synchronously pumped mode locking, which produced pulses of 260-ps duration tunable between 1195 and 1295 nm.
