Direct diode-pumped Kerr Lens 13 fs Ti:sapphire ultrafast oscillator using a single blue laser diode

Abstract

We demonstrate a direct diode-pumped Kerr Lens Modelocked Ti:sapphire laser producing 13 fs pulses with 1.85 nJ energy at 78 MHz (145 mW) using a single laser diode pump. We also present a similar laser using three spectrally combined diodes, generating >300 mW output power with >50 nm bandwidth. We discuss the use of far-from TEM pump laser sources, and their effect on the Kerr lens modelocking process.

Review of laser‐diode pumped Ti:sapphire laser

“…Since 2009, the performance of LD-pumped Ti:sapphire lasers has been gradually improved, approaching the performance of traditional Ti:sapphire lasers in terms of high power, [59][60][61][62] wide wavelength tunability, 61,63 and short pulse duration. [64][65][66][67][68] 3.1 | Blue-laser-diode pumped Ti:sapphire oscillators…”

“…Reprinted with permission from Ref. 65, © The Optical Society [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] mode-locked laser ran very stably at a repetition rate of 420 MHz. Muti et al designed a single green LD pumped femtosecond multipass-cavity (MPC) Ti:sapphire laser and increased the pulse energy up to 5 nJ.…”

Ultralow Noise Optical Frequency Combs

“…Additionally, the weight and size of the system can be a limitation for certain applications. While solid-state lasers might be competitive cost-wise with other laser technologies, especially since the emergence of cheap, high-power laser diodes [19], [31], the mechanical stability of a free-space laser cavity typically limits the use of such OFCs to optics labs. In a temperature-controlled optics lab however, the latest generation of solid-state laser OFCs have progressed towards stable and reliable OFCs that require minimal user interaction.…”

“…In a temperature-controlled optics lab however, the latest generation of solid-state laser OFCs have progressed towards stable and reliable OFCs that require minimal user interaction. For instance, Yb or Er-based solidstate lasers pumped by highly-reliable (Telcordia-certified) 980-nm laser diodes and mode-locked by either Kerr-lensing [22], [31]- [33] or by saturable absorber mirrors [25], [26] provide very competitive noise performance in a small physical footprint.…”

Influence of pump beam shaping and noise on performance of a direct diode-pumped ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser

“…The first BA-DL pumped Ti:S CW operation was demonstrated in 2009 by Roth et al [15]. Since then several embodiments of BA-DL pumped Ti:S in Kerr-lens mode-locked (KLM) operation have been reported [16][17][18][19][20]. In Ref.…”