A diode-pumped, self-starting, all-solid-state self-mode-locked Cr:LiSGAF laser

In this paper, a self-starting, diode-pumped self-mode-locked Cr:LiSGAF laser, which produced a stable pulse train of 45 fs duration with about 20 mW-average power at the repeated rate of 90 MHz, was presented. Self-mode-locked operation can be obtained whether there is the semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) in the Cr:LiSGAF laser cavity or not, and with the SESAM in the cavity, the self-mode-locked operation could self-start. The shortest pulses, as short as 38 fs, which were not very stable, were obtain with the SESAM in the cavity.