Diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KYW laser

Author

Liu, H. ; Nees, J. ; Mourou, G.

Author_Institution

Center for Ultrafact Opt. Sci., Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI, USA

fYear

2001

fDate

11-11 May 2001

Firstpage

30

Lastpage

31

Abstract

Summary form only given. We present what is, to our best knowledge, the first self-starting mode-locked Yb/sup 3+/:KY(WO/sub 4/)/sub 2/ (Yb:KYW) laser based on Kerr-lensing effect. The 10-at.% Yb/sup 3+/-doped KY(WO/sub 4/)/sub 2/ crystal is 4-mm long with Brewster angle for the E//b signal beam and is cooled to 18/spl deg/C. The gain material is CW end-pumped by two 100 /spl mu/m stripe laser diodes operating at 940 nm with a spectral bandwidth of /spl sim/3 nm FWHM. One of these diodes is slightly damaged and its light is focused to a beam diameter of 120 /spl mu/m/spl times/30 /spl mu/m (1/e/sup 2/ intensity) with 1.25 W reaching the crystal. The light of the other diode is focused to a beam diameter of 110 /spl mu/m/spl times/30 /spl mu/m (1/e/sup 2/ intensity) with 1.35 W reaching the crystal. Over 90% pump light is absorbed and we obtain 580 mW CW output power with a 2% output coupler without prisms in the cavity.

Keywords

laser beams; laser mode locking; laser tuning; optical Kerr effect; optical materials; optical pumping; potassium compounds; solid lasers; ytterbium; yttrium compounds; 1.25 W; 1.35 W; 100 micron; 18 C; 4 mm; 580 mW; 940 nm; Brewster angle; CW end-pumping; CW signal; FWHM; KY(WO/sub 4/)/sub 2/:Yb; Kerr-lens mode-locked laser; Kerr-lensing effect; Yb/sup 3+/:KY(WO/sub 4/)/sub 2/; beam diameter; diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked laser; diode-pumped laser; gain material; laser diodes; multiple lasing wavelengths; self mode-locked oscillator; self-starting mode-locked laser; spectral bandwidth; Diodes; Laser mode locking; Mirrors; Optical amplifiers; Optical coupling; Optical interferometry; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Solid lasers; Ultrafast optics;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2001. CLEO '01. Technical Digest. Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-662-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.2001.947423

Filename

947423