title: Hysteresis and multiple pulsing in a semiconductor disk laser with a saturable absorber.
abstract: We report on bistable mode-locking in a semiconductor disk laser. The disk laser mode-locked with a semiconductor saturable absorber is investigated for different designs of the gain medium that allow the hysteresis loop to be controlled. Hysteresis formation in the pulsed regime of a semiconductor oscillator with saturable absorption and unsaturated gain is discussed qualitatively. The laser represents an attractive setup for generation and manipulation of dissipative solitons and observation of their interaction.
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Research Centre, Tampere University of Technology, P. O. Box 692, FIN 33101, Finland. esa.j.saarinen@tut.fi
authors.forename: Esa J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Saarinen
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lyytikäinen
authors.forename: Oleg G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Okhotnikov