Diode-pumped femtosecond oscillators using ultra-broad-band Yb-doped crystals and modelocked using low-temperature grown or ion implanted saturable-absorber mirrors

¹ Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, BP 147, 91403 Orsay Cedex, France
² School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK
³ High Q Laser Production GmbH, Kaestel-Areal, 2. OG Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Str. 61, 6845 Hohenems, Austria
⁴ Institute of Photonics, University of Strathclyde, Wolfson Centre, 106 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NW, UK
⁵ Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, Université Bordeaux I, 351 cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence Cedex, France
⁶ Laboratoire de Chimie Appliquée de l'État Solide, UMR 7574 du CNRS, École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie Paris, France
⁷ Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse, Bât. 104, 91405 Orsay, France

Corresponding author: frederic.druon@iota.u-psud.fr

Received: 11 December 2001
Revised: 6 February 2002
Accepted: 8 February 2002
Published online: 15 November 2002

Abstract

Femtosecond modelocked lasers using new ytterbium-doped borate crystals (Yb:Sr₃Y(BO₃)₃, Yb:Ca₄GdO(BO₃)₃ and Yb:Ca₄YO(BO₃)₃) are demonstrated. Pulse duration as short as 69 fs has been obtained. To modelock such lasers, fast saturable absorbers need to be used. Two different types of fast saturable absorbers have been studied: low-temperature-grown semiconductor mirrors (SESAM) and high-energy-ion-implanted semiconductor Bragg reflectors (SBR). We demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, that ion-implanted SBR can be used to modelock oscillators using Yb-doped materials.