High-power 100 fs semiconductor disk lasers

Optically pumped passively modelocked semiconductor disk lasers (SDLs) provide superior performance in average output power, a broad range of operation wavelengths, and reduced complexity. Here, we present record performance with high average power and pulse durations as short as 100 fs with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) modelocked vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) at a center wavelength of 1034 nm. A comprehensive pulse characterization confirms fundamental modelocking with a close to transform-limited output pulse of 128 fs and with negatively chirped output pulses as short as 107 fs, which are externally compressed to 96 fs with a single path through a 2-mm-thick ZnSe plate. For the “96 fs result” the pulse repetition rate is 1.6 GHz, the average output power is 100 mW, and the pulse peak power is 560 W. The transform-limited optical spectrum could in principle support pulses as short as 65 fs with higher order dispersion compensation. We measured the most relevant spectral and nonlinear VECSEL and SESAM parameters and used them as input parameters for our pulse formation simulations. These simulations agree well with our experimental results and provide an outlook for further performance scaling of ultrafast SDL technology.