Abstract

We have used a bulk InGaAsP saturable absorber to passively mode-lock a KCl F_A(Tl) color center laser in single¹ and coupled-cavity² configurations. This results in high-repetition-rate, tunable femtosecond or picosecond laser operation in a wavelength range that is of growing importance for short pulse propagation in fibers and spectroscopy of erbium-doped materials. In single-cavity passive mode locking we obtained initially pulses as short as 315 fs with high amplitude stability and -65 mW average output power.³ In a coupled-cavity configuration we obtained (factor ~3) broader pulses at somewhat reduced pulse stabilities, but achieved increased average output power levels (up to ~200 mW).

© 1994 Optical Society of America