Abstract

Recently, we showed that a saturable Bragg reflector (SBR) structure can mode-lock a diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser with very low loss and produce 100-fe pulses with average power of 42 mw using a single 0.5 W 670-nm pump diode with aperture of 1 × 250 microns.¹ In the present paper, we discuss scaling to high output powers without using higher pump powers. This is particularly important for the gain media in the fluoride material system that exhibit low thermal conductivity, and even more so for gain media that exhibit nonradiative processes that decrease power rapidly as temperature rises, such as Cr:LiSAF. The recent arrival of diffraction-limited high-power laser diodes has made possible increases in pumping efficiency. We evaluate the suitability of the red diffraction-limited diode² for use in a SBR mode-locked Cr: LiSAF laser. Further, we demonstrate operation of this air-cooled diode-pumped femtosecond laser under battery power, and discuss some overall efficiency issues.

© 1996 Optical Society of America