The influence of gain-saturation on Kerr-lens mode locking of a Cr:LiSAF laser

Summary form only given. Theoretical and experimental data for soft aperture Kerr-lens mode locked Ti:sapphire laser predict best performance if the laser crystal is moved out of the centre between the curved mirrors in such a way that the beam-waist is on one crystal surface. But in the case of a Cr:LiSAF laser we found experimentally that we accomplish the best performance with a higher eccentricity. In this paper we extend the formalism by I. Herrmann (1994), who solved the wave equation for the field amplitude by a complex matrix formalism in both transversal directions.