Color center lasers passively mode locked by quantum wells

Author

Islam, Mohammed N. ; Sunderman, Elizabeth R. ; Soccolich, Carl E. ; Bar-Joseph, I. ; Sauer, Nicholas ; Chang, T.Y. ; Miller, B.I.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Lab., Holmdel, NJ, USA

Volume

25

Issue

12

fYear

1989

fDate

12/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2454

Lastpage

2463

Abstract

Using multiple-quantum-well (MQW) saturable absorbers, a NaCl color center was passively mode locked to produce 275-fs transform-limited, pedestal-free pulses with a peak power as high as 3.7 kW. The pulses are tunable from λ=1.59 to 1.7 μm by choosing MQWs with different bandgaps. The output pulses from the laser were shortened to 25 fs using the technique of soliton compression in a fiber. The steady-state operation of the laser requires the combination of a fast saturable absorber and gain saturation

Keywords

colour centre lasers; fibre optics; high-speed optical techniques; laser mode locking; laser tuning; optical saturable absorption; semiconductor quantum wells; sodium compounds; solitons; 1.59 to 1.7 micron; 25 fs; 275 fs; 3.7 kW; NaCl color center; colour centre lasers; fast saturable absorber; fiber; gain saturation; high-speed optical techniques; laser pulse shortening; multiple-quantum-well; passively mode locked; pedestal-free pulses; quantum well bandgaps; quantum wells; saturable absorbers; soliton compression; steady-state operation; transform-limited; tunable laser pulses; Fiber lasers; Laser mode locking; Optical pulses; Photonic band gap; Pulse compression methods; Quantum well devices; Quantum well lasers; Solid lasers; Solitons; Tunable circuits and devices;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.40629

Filename

40629