Abstract

We generate 110fs pulses with an average output power of 0.5 W and 50 fs pulses with an average output power of 0.34 W at a pulse repetition rate of 150 MHz with a passively modelocked diode-pumped Cr.LiSAF laser. A semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) self-starts and stabilizes soliton modelocking. The high average power is achieved by optimally mode-matching a 690 nm, 0.9 cm wide, high-power diode-laser array into a thin, efficiently cooled Cr:LiSAF laser crystal. We achieve cw output power as high as 1.4 W in a cavity without the SESAM and prisms required for dispersion compensation.

© 1997 Optical Society of America