We demonstrate the operation of a low threshold femtosecond Yb:KYW laser, using a saturable absorber mirror for passive mode-locking and a high brightness laser diode as pumping source. Fourier-limited pulses with a duration of 101 fs are achieved at an output power of 100 mW. The performance of the Yb:KYW laser was also compared to that of Yb:KGW.

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We present a detailed design and experimental study of diode laser structures emitting at 808 nm based on the combination of a GaAsP quantum well with well-established AlGaAs waveguide structures. By increasing the thickness of the confinement layers of the laser structure, its vertical far field divergence is reduced down to 15 • with only a small increase of the threshold current and small loss of efficiency. 200 µm aperture 'broad area' devices achieve at a heat sink temperature of 25 • C a continuous wave (CW) output power of more than 15 W with a wall-plug efficiency of 50% with a vertical far field divergence of 18 • . This output power illustrates the excellent high-power performance by using super-large optical-cavity structures with improved beam characteristics in comparison to the conventional broad waveguide lasers.