Abstract

Recent advances in mode-locked solid-state lasers have resulted in pulses as short as 8.5 fs in the 800 nm region from Ti:sapphire oscillators [1]. Using similar techniques, sub-50 fs pulses [2-4] have been generated in another solid-state laser system, Cr:forsterite, which operates in the 1.2 to 1.3 μm range. We report here results from both a regeneratively-initiated and self-initiated, mode-locked Cr:YAG laser [5] which is tunable from 1.51 to 1.53 μm. One hundred and twenty femtsosecond, nearly transform-limited pulses have been generated with peak output powers of 45 kW. The stable, high peak power pulses and room temperature operation of this laser make it a very suitable alternative to the cumbersome, cryogenic mode-locked NaCl laser [6] commonly used in both narrow bandgap semiconductor and optical communications research.

© 1994 Optical Society of America