SESAM mode-locked Yb:SrLaAlO4 laser

Abstract

We report on a detailed investigation of continuous-wave and SESAM mode-locked (ML) laser operation of an Yb:SrLaAlO4 laser. Pumped with a high-brightness fiber laser at 976 nm, the ML Yb:SrLaAlO4 laser delivered soliton pulses as short as 38 fs at 1071 nm with an average output power of 86 mW and a pulse repetition rate of ∼59 MHz. The maximum average output power reached 1.05 W at 1054 nm for longer pulses (94 fs), corresponding to a peak power of 146 kW and an optical efficiency of 38.6%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of SESAM ML operation of the Yb:SrLaAlO4 laser.