title: Green-diode-pumped femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser with up to 450 mW average power.
abstract: We investigate power-scaling of green-diode-pumped Ti:Sapphire lasers in continuous-wave (CW) and mode-locked operation. In a first configuration with a total pump power of up to 2 W incident onto the crystal, we achieved a CW power of up to 440 mW and self-starting mode-locking with up to 200 mW average power in 68-fs pulses using semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) as saturable absorber. In a second configuration with up to 3 W of pump power incident onto the crystal, we achieved up to 650 mW in CW operation and up to 450 mW in 58-fs pulses using Kerr-lens mode-locking (KLM). The shortest pulse duration was 39 fs, which was achieved at 350 mW average power using KLM. The mode-locked laser generates a pulse train at repetition rates around 400 MHz. No complex cooling system is required: neither the SESAM nor the Ti:Sapphire crystal is actively cooled, only air cooling is applied to the pump diodes using a small fan. Because of mass production for laser displays, we expect that prices for green laser diodes will become very favorable in the near future, opening the door for low-cost Ti:Sapphire lasers. This will be highly attractive for potential mass applications such as biomedical imaging and sensing.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gürel
authors.forename: V J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Wittwer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Saraceno
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hakobyan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Resan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rohrbacher
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weingarten
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schilt
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Südmeyer