Diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:YAl/sub 3/(BO/sub 3/)/sub 4/ laser passively mode-locked by an ion-implanted SESAM

Author

Lederer, M.I. ; Hildebrandt, M. ; Kolev, V. ; Luther-Davies, B. ; Taylor, B. ; Dawes, J. ; Dekker, P. ; Piper, J. ; Tan, H.H. ; Jagadish, C.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Phys. Sci. & Eng., Australian Nat. Univ., Canberra, ACT, Australia

fYear

2002

fDate

24-24 May 2002

Firstpage

344

Abstract

Summary form only given. We report, to our knowledge, the first semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) mode-locked Yb:YAl/sub 3/(BO/sub 3/)/sub 4/ (Yb:YAB) laser. Apart from a fluorescence bandwidth of 20 nm, Yb:YAB has a second-order nonlinear coefficient of d/sub eff/ > 1.4 pm/V/sup 4/. With its quasi three-level energy scheme, an upper state lifetime of /spl tau//sub u/ = 0.68 ms and gain cross-section of /spl sigma//sub c/ = 0.8 /spl times/ 10/sup -20/ cm/sup 2/, Yb:YAB requires high brightness pumping and picosecond SESAM response for stable cw mode-locking. We have developed an approach involving ion-implantation and annealing of SESAMs. This versatile process enables response time tailoring on the single device level. The SESAM used in the Yb:YAB laser is shown. A half-wave layer of GaAs, grown upon a semiconductor Bragg-mirror (/spl lambda//sub B/ = 1040 nm), contained three 9.5 nm In/sub 0.26/Ga/sub 0.74/As quantum-wells QW) at the anti-node of the standing-wave intensity distribution.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; fluorescence; gallium arsenide; high-speed optical techniques; indium compounds; laser mode locking; mirrors; optical pumping; optical saturable absorption; radiative lifetimes; semiconductor quantum wells; solid lasers; ytterbium; yttrium compounds; 0.68 ms; 1040 nm; 9.5 nm; GaAs half-wave layer; GaAs-In/sub 0.26/Ga/sub 0.74/As; In/sub 0.26/ Ga/sub 0.74/As quantum-wells; SESAM passively mode-locked Yb:YAB laser; YAl/sub 3/(BO/sub 3/)/sub 4/:Yb; annealing; anti-node; diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:YAl/sub 3/(BO/sub 3/)/sub 4/ laser; fluorescence bandwidth; gain cross-section; high brightness pumping; ion-implanted SESAM; picosecond SESAM response; quasi three-level energy scheme; response time tailoring; second-order nonlinear coefficient; semiconductor Bragg-mirror; semiconductor saturable absorber mirror; stable cw mode-locking; standing-wave intensity distribution; upper state lifetime; Annealing; Bandwidth; Brightness; Delay; Fluorescence; Laser mode locking; Mirrors; Pump lasers; Semiconductor diodes; Semiconductor lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2002. CLEO '02. Technical Digest. Summaries of Papers Presented at the

Conference_Location

Long Beach, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-706-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.2002.1034066

Filename

1034066