title: Picosecond pulses of variable duration from a high-power passively mode-locked Nd:YVO(4) laser free of spatial hole burning.
abstract: We report on a high-power passively mode-locked TEM(00)Nd:YVO(4) oscillator, 888 nm diode-pumped, with pulse durations adjustable between 46 ps and 12 ps. The duration tunability was obtained by varying the output coupler (OC) transmission while avoiding resorting to spatial hole burning (SHB) for pulse shortening. At a repetition rate of 91 MHz and for an output power ranging from 15 Wto45 W, we produced SHB-free 12-ps-to32-ps-long pulses. Within this range of power, these are the shortest pulse durations obtained directly from Nd:YVO(4) oscillators.
authors.affiliation: CELIA, Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, CEA, 351 Cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence Cedex, France. nadeau@celia.u-bordeaux1.fr
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Nadeau
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petit
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balcou
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Czarny
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montant
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simon-Boisson
mesh_terms: D004566:Electrodes; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State; D013997:Time Factors