Sub-10 picosecond pulses from a fiber-amplified and optically compressed passively Q-switched microchip laser

A. Steinmetz; D. Nodop; A. Martin; J. Limpert; A. Tünnermann

doi:10.1117/12.874521

10 February 2011 Sub-10 picosecond pulses from a fiber-amplified and optically compressed passively Q-switched microchip laser

A. Steinmetz, D. Nodop, A. Martin, J. Limpert, A. Tünnermann

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7914, Fiber Lasers VIII: Technology, Systems, and Applications; 791412 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.874521
Event: SPIE LASE, 2011, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

We report on nonlinear optical compression of passively Q-switched pulses accessing sub-10 ps domain, which is so far dominated by mode-locked systems. The concept implements the SPM-induced spectral-broadening of passively Q-switched microchip pulses in optical waveguides and a supplementary compression with bulk optics e.g. a pair of diffraction gratings or a chirped-Bragg-grating. Used seed-source is a fiber-amplified, passively Q-switched microchip laser operating on a single longitudinal mode and consists of a monolithically bonded combination of Nd:YVO₄-crystal and semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. The microchip laser provides pulses with durations of 100-150 ps, pulse energies of ~200 nJ at various repetition rates from hundreds of kilohertz to more than a megahertz, and line width of ~20 pm at wavelength of 1064nm. During the amplification process in the photonics crystal fiber, the pulses are spectrally broadened to up to ~0.7nm at energy of 17μJ. Using a diffraction grating compressor with 1740 l/mm, the pulses are compressed to duration as short as 6ps assuming a numerically calculated de-convolution factor of 0.735. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported realization of nonlinear compression of the Q-switched pulses and the shortest pulses from a passively Q-switched laser system.

Citation Download Citation

A. Steinmetz, D. Nodop, A. Martin, J. Limpert, and A. Tünnermann "Sub-10 picosecond pulses from a fiber-amplified and optically compressed passively Q-switched microchip laser", Proc. SPIE 7914, Fiber Lasers VIII: Technology, Systems, and Applications, 791412 (10 February 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.874521

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