High-power passively mode-locked Nd:YVO 4 oscillator with adjustable pulse duration between 46 ps and 12 ps

Abstract

We report on a high-power, passively mode-locked, TEM 00 Nd:YVO 4 oscillator with adjustable pulse duration between 46 and 12ps. The laser is end-pumped by an 888nm laser diode and mode-locking is achieved with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The laser has a repetition rate of 91MHz and the M 2 beam quality factor is better than 1.2 at 15ps. At the optimum output coupler, it provides a maximum average output power of 45W with 32ps pulse duration. In literature, the presence of spatial hole burning (SHB) often helps to shorten the pulse length down to few picoseconds. However, SHB might be an issue for some specific application requiring e.g. low noise picosecond oscillators. In this contribution, we demonstrate that it is possible to shorten the pulse duration by lowering the intracavity losses without SHB. Pulse tunability from 46 to 12ps is achieved by changing the output coupler of the cavity while staying in the continuous-wave mode-locked regime. Pulse duration is almost linear with the output coupler transmission and increases from 12 to 32ps with average output power ranging from 15 to 45W. In this range of output power, we demonstrate the shortest pulses directly from a Nd:YVO 4 oscillator.