Compact and efficient Cr:LiSAF lasers pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode: a minimal cost approach

Demırbas, Umıt; Eggert, Stefan; Leitenstorfer, Alfred

doi:10.1364/josab.29.001894

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…For this case, the measured cw lasing threshold and laser slope efficiency were 13 mW and 35%, respectively. Earlier, a lasing threshold of 8 mW and a slope efficiency of 50% were reported from a similar cavity [8]. The slight decrease in the cw laser performance in this study is due to the additional losses associated with the DCM mirrors and the prism pair.…”

supporting

confidence: 70%

“…We believe that the efficiencies from the diode-pumped KLM Ti:Sapphire laser systems also could be improved by using the GMOC technology. However, we note here that the figure of merit of Cr:LiSAF crystals is about an order of magnitude better compared to Ti:Sapphire [8]. Moreover, an additional parasitic loss of about 1% was reported in Ti:Sapphire when pumped at shorter wavelengths [15,18].…”

mentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Cr:LiSAF can be directly diode-pumped by low-cost diodes in the red spectral region and has an ultra-broad gain bandwidth, covering the wavelength range at least from 780 to 1110 nm and potentially enabling sub-7-fs pulse generation [7,8]. Hence it is actually an ideal low-cost alternative to Ti:Sapphire.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Highly efficient and robust operation of Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSAF lasers using gain-matched output couplers

et al. 2014

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We present efficient and robust Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) of a diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser using a gain-matched output coupler (GMOC). An inexpensive, battery-powered 660 nm single-spatial-mode diode was used as the pump source. GMOC enhances the effective self-amplitude modulation depth by reducing the gain-filtering effect in broadband KLM operation to provide significant improvement in efficiency and robustness. Pulsing can be initiated without careful cavity alignment and is sustained for hours. 13 fs pulses with an average power of 25 mW have been generated using only 120 mW of pump power. The corresponding pulse energy and peak power is 200 pJ and 15 kW for the 126 MHz repetition rate cavity. Optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of the system is 21%, which represents an order of magnitude improvement in reported efficiencies for such diode-pumped ultrashort-pulse KLM Cr:LiSAF lasers. The obtainable pulse width is currently limited by the dispersion bandwidth of the available optics and can be potentially reduced to below 7 fs.

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Highly efficient and robust operation of Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSAF lasers using gain-matched output couplers

et al. 2014

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“…) offer broad emission bands in the near infrared that allow generation of sub-10-fs light pulses via mode-locking [4][5][6] and widely tunable laser operation in the wavelength range between 700 nm and 1100 nm [7]. Via second-harmonic generation, tunability may be extended into the ultraviolet, blue and green regions of the spectrum from 350 nm to 550 nm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diode-pumped continuous-wave and femtosecond Cr:LiCAF lasers with high average power in the near infrared, visible and near ultraviolet

Demırbas¹,

Baali²,

Acar³

et al. 2015

Opt. Express

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Abstract:We demonstrate continuous-wave (cw), cw frequency-doubled, cw mode-locked and Q-switched mode-locked operation of multimode diode-pumped Cr:LiCAF lasers with record average powers. Up to 2.54 W of cw output is obtained around 805 nm at an absorbed pump power of 5.5 W. Using intracavity frequency doubling with a BBO crystal, 0.9 W are generated around 402 nm, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12%. With an intracavity birefringent tuning plate, the fundamental and frequency-doubled laser output is tuned continuously in a broad wavelength range from 745 nm to 885 nm and from 375 to 440 nm, respectively. A saturable Bragg reflector is used to initiate and sustain mode locking. In the cw mode-locked regime, the Cr:LiCAF laser produces 105-fs long pulses near 810 nm with an average power of 0.75 W. The repetition rate is 96.4 MHz, resulting in pulse energies of 7.7 nJ and peak powers of 65 kW. In Q-switched mode-locked operation, pulses with energies above 150 nJ are generated.

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“…The average output powers were around 10 mW and the corresponding peak powers reached 4 kW level. Moreover, the system had an estimated material cost below $5k, an electrical-to-optical conversion efficiency of around 5%, a footprint of only 30 cm x 40 cm and could be powered with 8 AA-type batteries for 10 hours [11]. The obtained pulsewidth was limited by the dispersion bandwidth of the available mirror set, and sub-10-fs pulses should be possible in future by using a dispersion optimized mirror set.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient and Robust Kerr-Lens Mode-Locking of Cr:LiSAF Lasers Using Gain-Matched Output Couplers

Canbaz

Beyatli

Chen

et al. 2013

Advanced Solid-State Lasers Congress

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Abstract:We have demonstrated robust and efficient Kerr-lens mode-locked operation of a lowcost, diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser using a gain-matched output coupler. Sub-30-fs pulses with 80-pJ pulse energy have been demonstrated with 80 mW of pump power. IntroductionKerr-lens mode-locking (KLM) is a very well-known and versatile technique that is widely used for the generation of ultrashort pulses from broadband gain media such as Ti:Sapphire [1, 2], Cr:ZnSe [3], Cr:Forsterite, and Cr:LiSAF [4][5][6][7][8]. KLM generates an artificial saturable absorber with an instantaneous lensing effect that shortens the circulating intracavity pulsewidth via self-amplitude modulation (SAM). Hence, unlike saturable Bragg reflectors, KLM does not impose any bandwidth limitation effect and the obtainable pulsewidth is limited only by the gain bandwidth of the lasing material and dispersion bandwidth of the laser cavity. To achieve the shortest pulses: (i) flat dispersion profile over the whole gain bandwidth should be utilized, and (ii) strong gain filtering effect of the active medium should be overcome. To fulfill the second requirement, a large SAM is desired, which necessitates the use of low output coupling, high pump powers, critical cavity alignment, and, in some cases, operation near the edge of the stability range. This may result in reduced output beam quality, lower laser efficiency, high mode-locking threshold, and stability problems in long-term operation. These issues are even more significant in gain media with a low nonlineer refractive index (n 2 ) such as Cr:LiSAF (n 2 =0.8 x10 -16 cm 2 /W, four times lower than that for Ti:Sapphire [9]). Even though pulses as short as 10 fs have been demonstrated from low-cost diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF lasers [4], the ultrafast technology based on KLM Cr:LiSAF lasers could not be developed beyond laboratory demonstrations due to the above mentioned problems,.To overcome the limitations imposed by KLM, the gain filtering effect should be minimized. In that respect, Chen et al. recently suggested the use of gain matched output couplers (GMOC) with a transmission profile that matches the gain spectrum of the laser active medium [10]. This creates a loss profile that has the same shape as the cavity gain, which results in a broadband flat net gain profile. Then, this eliminates the need for strong SAM, and a low level of KLM action is sufficient to sustain ultrashort pulses. By employing a 4% GMOC in a Ti:Sapphire laser, Chen et al. demonstrated robust mode-locking at greatly-reduced Kerr nonlinearity requirements [10], and the laser produced sub-8-fs pulses with excellent beam quality.In this study, we employed a gain matched output coupler to demonstrate robust KLM operation of a diodepumped, low-cost Cr:LiSAF laser with long-term stability. The laser is pumped with a 130 mW diode having a diffraction-limited output beam at the wavelength of around 660 nm. KLM operation did not require careful cavity alignment and could be initiated at incident pump powers as low as 50 mW. Once initi...

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Compact and efficient Cr:LiSAF lasers pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode: a minimal cost approach

Cited by 27 publications

References 88 publications

Highly efficient and robust operation of Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSAF lasers using gain-matched output couplers

Highly efficient and robust operation of Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSAF lasers using gain-matched output couplers

Diode-pumped continuous-wave and femtosecond Cr:LiCAF lasers with high average power in the near infrared, visible and near ultraviolet

Efficient and Robust Kerr-Lens Mode-Locking of Cr:LiSAF Lasers Using Gain-Matched Output Couplers

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