title: Diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:CaNb2O6 laser.
abstract: We report to our knowledge a diode-pumped passively mode-locked Yb:CaNb(2)O(6) (Yb:CN) laser for the first time. Both CW and passive mode-locking operation of the laser are experimentally investigated. A maximum CW output power of 1.4 W with a slope efficiency of 20% is obtained on a 7 mm long 1.5 at.% Yb:CN crystal, while stable passive mode-locking with a commercial semiconductor saturable absorption mirror (SESAM) was achieved on a 3 mm long 3 at.% Yb:CN crystal. The mode-locked pulses have pulse width of 251 fs and an average output power of 44 mW at 1038 nm.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for High Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China.
authors.forename: D Z
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu