High-repetition rate passively mode-locked solid-state laser
US6393035B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 1, 1999 |
| Grant date | May 21, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 1, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S3/113
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A passively mode-locked solid-state laser for emitting a continuous-wave train of electromagnetic-radiation pulses, the fundamental repetition rate of the emitted pulses exceeding 1 GHz, without Q-switching has an optical resonator, a solid-state laser gain element placed inside the optical resonator, an exciter for exciting said laser gain element to emit electromagnetic radiation having the effective wavelength, and a saturable absorber for passive mode locking. The laser gain element preferably consists of a laser material with a stimulated emission cross section exceeding 0.8×10−18 cm−2 at the effective wavelength. Typically, the laser gain element is made of Nd:vanadate. The saturable absorber is preferably a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror device. The laser is simple, robust, compact, efficient, and low-cost. It generates a relatively large average power of 100 mW and higher, which is useful for a number of optical probing and detection applications, in a beam which is substantially a fundamental spatial mode.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.