Yb3+-doped YVO4 crystal for efficient Kerr-lens mode locking in solid-state lasers.
We report the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of soft-aperture Kerr-lens mode locking in a diode-pumped femtosecond Yb3+:YVO4 laser. Near-transform-limited pulses as short as 61 fs are generated around a center wavelength of 1050 nm with an output power of 54 mW and a pulse repetition frequency of 104.5 MHz. This is, to our knowledge, the shortest pulse generated directly from an Yb laser having a crystalline host material. The femtosecond operation has a mode-locking threshold at an absorbed pump power of 190 mW. The nonlinear refractive indexes of the Yb3+:YVO4 crystal have been measured to be 19 x 10(-16) cm2/W and 15 x 10(-16) cm2/W for the sigma and pi polarizations, respectively, at 1080 nm.
Lagatsky
A A
AA
J F Allen Physics Research Laboratories, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK. aal2@st-andrews.ac.uk
Sarmani
A R
AR
Brown
C T A
CT
Sibbett
W
W
Kisel
V E
VE
Selivanov
A G
AG
Denisov
I A
IA
Troshin
A E
AE
Yumashev
K V
KV
Kuleshov
N V
NV
Matrosov
V N
VN
Matrosova
T A
TA
Kupchenko
M I
MI