Actively mode-locked semiconductor disk laser using vertical cavity modulator

Short pulse operation in semiconductor disk lasers (SDLs) is regularly achieved by passive mode-locking using semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors [1, 2]. Mode-locking using active techniques is generally prevented by the high losses induced by the standard waveguide-type modulators that cannot be adopted by the disk laser cavity due to the relatively low single-pass gain. Here we report an actively mode-locked SDL using a low-loss vertical cavity modulator (VCM).