All Solid-State Passively Mode-Locked Ultrafast Lasers Based on Nd, Yb, and Cr Doped Media

Abstract

Mode-locking technique is a widely used method for generating ultrashort laser pulses. The mode-locked laser output is a sequence of equally spaced laser pulses. The pulse width is limited by the spectral range of the gain medium and inversely related to the bandwidth of the laser emission. Compared with the active mode-locking technique, passively modelocked laser with saturable absorber is able to generate much shorter pulse with a simple configuration. In particularly, based on the passive mode-locking mechanism, the Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) Ti:sapphire laser is recognized as the most important ultrafast laser source. Not only a series of commercial femtosecond lasers with Ti:sapphire crystal were released, but also lead to many innovations in science, such as frequency comb, laser wake field acceleration, attosecond science, laser micro-fabrication etc. However, the major drawback of Ti:sapphire laser is its green pump laser source. Currently available green lasers generated by frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser or by Argon laser are relatively bulky and expensive, which limits the practical application of ultrafast Ti:sapphire lasers.