Abstract

We report broad tunability of a femtosecond (fs) diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser mode-locked with a broadband saturable Bragg reflector (SBR). The SBR had seven pairs of ${\mathrm{Al}}_x{\mathrm{O}}_y(n\sim 1.5)$ and ${\mathrm{Al}}_{0.17}{\mathrm{Ga}}_{0.83}\mathrm{As}(n\sim 3.5)$ layers in its Bragg stack, enabling a 250 nm reflectivity bandwidth around 850 nm. A 6-nm-thick strained ${\mathrm{In}}_{0.15}{\mathrm{Ga}}_{0.85}\mathrm{As}$ quantum well placed between ${\mathrm{Al}}_{0.17}{\mathrm{Ga}}_{0.83}\mathrm{As}$ cladding layers was used as a broadband saturable absorber in the 800–920 nm wavelength range. The laser was pumped by 6 single mode diodes—four at 640 nn and two at 660 nm. Mode locking was self-starting and fs pulses could be continuously tuned from 800 nm to 905 nm by an intracavity birefringent filter with an out-of-plane optic axis. The pulse widths varied from 70 fs to 255 fs as the laser was tuned. The laser had an 85.5 MHz repetition rate and the output power varied from 80 mW to 180 mW with tuning.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

Femtosecond tuning of Cr:colquiriite lasers with AlGaAs-based saturable Bragg reflectors

Umit Demirbas, Gale S. Petrich, Duo Li, Alphan Sennaroglu, Leslie A. Kolodziejski, Franz X. Kärtner, and James G. Fujimoto
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 28(5) 986-993 (2011)

Mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser far off the gain peak: tunable sub-200-fs pulses near 1 µm

Umit Demirbas, Jelto Thesinga, Martin Kellert, Simon Reuter, Bernd Sumpf, Mikhail Pergament, and Franz X. Kärtner
Appl. Opt. 60(29) 9054-9061 (2021)

Large-area broadband saturable Bragg reflectors by use of oxidized AlAs

S. N. Tandon, J. T. Gopinath, H. M. Shen, G. S. Petrich, L. A. Kolodziejski, F. X. Kärtner, and E. P. Ippen
Opt. Lett. 29(21) 2551-2553 (2004)

Broadly tunable femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser

D. Kopf, A. Prasad, G. Zhang, M. Moser, and U. Keller
Opt. Lett. 22(9) 621-623 (1997)

Low-cost, single-mode diode-pumped Cr:Colquiriite lasers

Umit Demirbas, Duo Li, Jonathan R. Birge, Alphan Sennaroglu, Gale S. Petrich, Leslie A. Kolodziejski, Franz X. Kärtner, and James G. Fujimoto
Opt. Express 17(16) 14374-14388 (2009)