Abstract

Passively mode-locked, optically pumped lasers have been presented with repetition rates up to 77 GHz in the l-μm wavelength regime.¹ At telecom wavelengths, fundamental repetition rates had previously been limited to 2.5 GHz. These results were achieved only with actively mode-locked Er:Yb:glass lasers.² To date the repetition rate of passively mode-locked Er:Yb:glass lasers has been limited to 114 MHz.³ We demonstrate an Er:Yb:glass laser which produces picosecond pulses at repetition rate of 10.67 GHz, a center wavelength of 1534 nm and an average output power of up to 15 mW. We obtained nearly transform-limited pulse durations (time-bandwidth product <0.47) of 3.8 ps and 16.8 ps with different laser parameters. Tuning between 1529 nm and 1569 nm in a similar laser at 2 GHz was demonstrated. These pulses are obtained using passive mode locking, i.e. the laser requires no microwave drive signal to produce pulses, and there is only one laser pulse per round-trip inside the cavity.

© 2002 Optical Society of America