Abstract
In the past three years, self-mode-locked ~10 fs-pulse1,2 generation have been demonstrated in ion-laser pumped titanium- doped Al2O3 (Ti:sapphire) lasers. Since the self-mode-locking is induced by a field modulation by the optical nonlinearity, those lasers required high pumping powers. A low mode-lock threshold will be a major advantage to obtain compact and reliable femtosecond sources. The mode-lock threshold can be decreased in a high-Q cavity,3 but it is hard to obtain good stability and high efficiency. Recently, Zhou et al4 has shown that the duration of a circulating pulse is modified by dispersion of each intra-cavity component in a self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. We considered a new approach to decrease the mode-lock threshold, taking account of the intracavity pulse-spreading.
© 1995 IEEE
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