title: Low-threshold femtosecond Nd:glass laser.
abstract: Using a 150-mW single-transverse-mode laser diode at 802 nm for pumping an Nd:phosphate laser, we achieved efficient cw operation (40% slope efficiency) with pump threshold as low as 12 mW at optimum coupling, and a maximum output power of 53 mW. Under passive mode-locking operation, we obtained nearly Fourier-limited 270-fs pulses in a prismless dispersion-compensated cavity and 173-fs pulses with a single-prism setup. This compact laser is especially interesting for applications requiring low power levels, such as seeding amplifiers and for biodiagnostics.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Elettronica dell'Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy. antonio.agnesi@unipv.it
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agnesi
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pirzio
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reali
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005898:Glass; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity