Mode-locked semiconductor laser system with intracavity spatial light modulator for linear and nonlinear dispersion management

Abstract

We analyze the influence of second and third order intracavity dispersion on a passively mode-locked diode laser by introducing a spatial light modulator (SLM) into the external cavity. The dispersion is optimized for chirped pulses with highest possible spectral bandwidth that can be externally compressed to the sub picosecond range. We demonstrate that the highest spectral bandwidth is achieved for a combination of second and third order dispersion. With subsequent external compression pulses with a duration of 437 fs are generated.

Passively Mode-Locked Diode Laser With Optimized Dispersion Management

“…However, in semiconductor lasers the chirp and its dynamics often reduce the achievable spectral bandwidth. This reduced bandwidth increases the minimal obtainable pulse width behind the external pulse compressor to values far above the values estimated from the available gain bandwidth in the semiconductor [15], [16].…”

“…The cavity contains an ultrafast pulse shaper consisting of a folded Martinez stretcher [24] with a spatial light modulator (SLM) next to the folding mirror [16]. This allows, in principle, for an arbitrary modulation of spectral phase-and attenuation components, but in this work, we concentrate on the influence of dispersion.…”

Self-optimizing femtosecond semiconductor laser

“…In semiconductor diode lasers the strong self-phase modulation in the semiconductor as well as ultrafast nonlinear gain saturation effects complicate the direct generation of femtosecond pulses out of diode lasers. Thus, it is more favorable to optimize the system for a high spectral bandwidth with predominantly linearly chirped pulses that can be externally compressed [10].…”

“…Intra-cavity control of dispersion and spectral shaping is enabled by introducing a spatial light modulator (SLM) into the cavity [10]. Spectral phase-and amplitude masks can be applied to form arbitrary dispersion and loss filters.…”

Ultrashort pulse generation with semiconductor lasers using intracavity phase- and amplitude pulse shaping

“…This has been improved using a pulse shaper 12 in the external resonator cavity. While in earlier work we have studied the influence of phase masks on the mode-locking dynamics 13 , we now introduce spectrally resolved dispersion and absorption masks into the cavity of the anti-reflection coated laser with a resonator-internal pulse shaper, producing a significantly enhanced spectral bandwidth in stable passively modelocked operation. Pulse widths of 280 fs are obtained.…”