title: Experimental verification of soliton-like pulse-shaping mechanisms in passively mode-locked VECSELs.
abstract: We present a detailed experimental study on the influence of dispersion on the pulse formation in passively modelocked vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs). We have demonstrated that the shortest pulse duration requires slightly positive dispersion to balance the nonlinear phase shift induced by strong semiconductor gain and absorber saturation. This is in contrast to soliton modelocking in ion-doped solid-state lasers - but similarities remain and will be discussed. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with numerical simulations and confirm the quasi-soliton modelocking mechanism of ultrafast VECSELs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Institute of Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. mh@phys.ethz.ch
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Oliver D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Sieber
authors.forename: Deran J H C
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Maas
authors.forename: Valentin J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Wittwer
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Golling
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Südmeyer
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Keller
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007834:Lasers; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*