Passive mode-locking of a Ho:YSAG laser with PbS-quantum dot-doped glass

Author

Denisov, Igor A. ; Gaponenko, M.S. ; Malyarevich, Alexander M. ; Yumashev, Konstantin V. ; Lipovskii, A.A.

Author_Institution

Inst. for Opt. Mater. & Technol., Belarussian Nat. Tech. Univ., Minsk, Belarus

fYear

2009

fDate

14-19 June 2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

1

Abstract

Solid-state laser sources emitting ultrashort pulses in the spectral range near 2 Â¿m are potentially attractive for rangefinders, LIDAR and medical applications. This paper presents passive mode-locking of a 2-Â¿m Cr:Tm:Ho:YSAG laser using PbS-quantum dot-doped phosphate glass as a saturable absorber. The absorption saturation intensity for PbS-quantum dot-doped glass under influence of 40-ns laser pulses at the wavelength of 2.1 Â¿m is measured to be ~3.5 MW/cm². When intracavity focusing parameter in the saturable absorber being 1.1÷1.3 mode-locking operation is observed.observed. The laser operated in the TEM₀₀ mode and a train of ultrashort pulses separated by 7.2 ns cavity roundtrip with maximum single pulse energy of 0.5 mJ is obtained.

Keywords

IV-VI semiconductors; aluminium compounds; chromium; gallium compounds; holmium; laser mode locking; lead compounds; optical glass; optical pulse generation; optical saturable absorption; phosphate glasses; scandium; semiconductor quantum dots; sodium compounds; solid lasers; thulium; yttrium compounds; zinc compounds; P₂O₅-Na₂O-ZnO-AlF₃-Ga₂O₃; TEM₀₀ mode; Y₃Sc₂Al₃O₁₂:Cr,Tm,Ho; absorption saturation intensity; passive mode-locking; phosphate glass; quantum dot; saturable absorber; ultrashort pulses; wavelength 2.1 mum; Absorption; Biomedical equipment; Glass; Laser mode locking; Laser radar; Medical services; Optical pulses; Pulse measurements; Solid lasers; Wavelength measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics 2009 and the European Quantum Electronics Conference. CLEO Europe - EQEC 2009. European Conference on

Conference_Location

Munich

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4079-5

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4080-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2009.5194726

Filename

5194726