Passive stabilization of a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser with the use of a modified outcoupling mirror

Abstract

Recently a new passive stabilization technique for synchronously pumped dye lasers was reported that allows one to generate nearly transform-limited pulses. The idea of this technique is to split off an extremely small fraction of the laser pulse and to superimpose it back on itself slightly advanced in time. In these experiments the seeding pulse was provided by an external cavity, which led to an undesirable frequency hopping. Here we present a simple modification of an outcoupling mirror that integrates the generation of the seeding pulse into the main laser cavity. In this way frequency-stable, nearly transform-limited pulses are generated.