Control of solid state laser dynamics by semiconductor devices

Franz X. Kaertner; Luigi R. Brovelli; Daniel Kopf; Markus Kamp; Irio G. Calasso; Ursula Keller

doi:10.1117/12.204794

1 July 1995 Control of solid state laser dynamics by semiconductor devices

Franz X. Kaertner, Luigi R. Brovelli, Daniel Kopf, Markus Kamp, Irio G. Calasso, Ursula Keller

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 34, Issue 7, (July 1995). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.204794

Abstract

We have successfully demonstrated that an appropriately designed semiconductor saturable absorber device, the antiresonant Fabry-Perot saturable absorber, can reliably start and sustain stable mode locking of solid state lasers such as Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, Nd:Glass, Cr:LiSAF, and Ti:sapphire lasers. Especially for solid state lasers with long upper-state lifetimes, previous attempts to produce self-starting passive mode locking with saturable absorbers was always accompanied by self-Q-switching. We derive criteria that characterize the dynamic behavior of solid state lasers in the important regimes of Q-switching, mode-locked Q-switching, and continuous-wave mode locking in the picosecond and femtosecond range for the pulsewidth. We demonstrate that semiconductor absorbers can be designed to predetermine the dynamic behavior of a laser for a given solid state laser material and present an experimental verification. This allows for the development and design of robust, compact pico- and femtosecond solid state laser sources for scientific and industrial applications.

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Franz X. Kaertner, Luigi R. Brovelli, Daniel Kopf, Markus Kamp, Irio G. Calasso, and Ursula Keller "Control of solid state laser dynamics by semiconductor devices," Optical Engineering 34(7), (1 July 1995). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.204794

Published: 1 July 1995

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