High peak power pulses from dispersion optimised modelocked semiconductor laser

Abstract

Presented is an electrically pumped passively modelocked edge-emitting semiconductor laser system in an external cavity setup with intracavity dispersion management. This concept, in combination with a pulse compressor, provides pulses as short as 158 fs. By expanding the setup with a tapered diode laser amplifier, peak powers up to 6.5 kW were achieved in the 850 nm wavelength range.

Control and Generation of Localized Pulses in Passively Mode-Locked Semiconductor Lasers

“…Hence, the stability of fundamental mode-locking is lost when the cavity length is increased above a certain limit, leading to the so-called regime of harmonic mode-locking where several pulses circulate in the cavity. This limits the lowest repetition rate of PML to approximately 200−300 MHz [13], [14], [15], [16]. Such a limit in conventional PML can be reduced by a factor of two by placing the gain chip in the center of the cavity [17], thereby shortening the gain recovery in-between pulses and preventing the onset of harmonic PML.…”

Degradation mechanism of SESAMs under intense ultrashort pulses in modelocked VECSELs

“…However, in terms of high average power, most mode-locked edge-emitters have been able to operate in the picosecond pulse duration range with only ~250mW average power 24,25 . In order to increase the output power of mode-locked edge emitters, external elements 26 or pulse compression techniques have been employed and this increases the complexity of these systems. Moreover, it is not trivial to increase the output power levels in this system.…”

Recent advances in ultrafast semiconductor disk lasers

“…Most of these lasers however work in the picosecond pulse duration regime with maximum average output power levels of approximately 200 mW 17 . To reach a higher average power up to 800 mW and a peak power up to 6.5 kW, an external semiconductor amplifier 18 or an external cavity 19 and pulse compression were required, thus increasing the complexity of the system. In addition to the limited laser oscillator output power, edge emitters also have the disadvantage of a long gain interaction length, which increases the noise level 20 and limits their suitability for frequency metrology and optical communication.…”