Extreme chirped pulse oscillator (XCPO) using a theta cavity design

Author

Lee, Shinwook ; Kim, Kyungbum ; Delfyett, Peter J., Jr.

Author_Institution

Center for Res. & Educ. in Opt. & Lasers, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Volume

18

Issue

7

fYear

2006

fDate

4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

799

Lastpage

801

Abstract

We demonstrate an extreme chirped pulse mode-locked laser, simultaneously generating near-transform-limited 3.9-ps optical pulses and ∼510-ps linearly chirped output from the oscillator. The design overcomes fundamental limitations of energy extraction and nonlinearities induced by gain dynamics so that we can increase the dc current of the semiconductor optical amplifier up to 600 mA without distortion of the pulse characteristics. The maximum average power of the stretched pulses from the 1.95-GHz harmonically mode-locked semiconductor laser is measured to be 13.4 mW at 600 mA.

Keywords

chirp modulation; laser cavity resonators; laser mode locking; nonlinear optics; optical pulse generation; semiconductor optical amplifiers; 1.95 GHz; 13.4 mW; 3.9 ps; 510 ps; 600 mA; dc current; energy extraction; extreme chirped pulse oscillator; gain dynamics; harmonically mode-locked laser; linearly chirped output; mode locked laser; near-transform-limited optical pulses; optical nonlinearities; semiconductor laser; semiconductor optical amplifier; stretched pulses; theta cavity design; Chirp; Laser mode locking; Laser noise; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Oscillators; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse measurements; Semiconductor lasers; Ultraviolet sources; Chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG); harmonic mode-locking; high-power semiconductor lasers; mode-locked semiconductor lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2006.871695

Filename

1605293