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锁模半导体碟片激光器(Semiconductor Disk Laser,SDL)兼具输出功率高与光束质量好的优点,但半导体增益介质ns量级很短的载流子寿命限制了锁模脉冲重复频率的降低,因而在一定程度上限制了锁模脉冲峰值功率的提高。本工作中增益芯片内较浅的量子阱所对应的载流子寿命相对较长,结合特殊设计的较小饱和通量的半导体可饱和吸收镜(Semiconductor Saturable Absorption Mirror,SESAM),获得了低重复频率、高峰值功率的被动锁模SDL。在温度为12℃时,利用六镜谐振腔产生的被动锁模激光脉冲重复频率低至78 MHz,为迄今为止在SESAM锁模SDL中所获得的最低重复频率。锁模SDL的平均输出功率为2.1 W,脉冲宽度为2.08 ps,对应的脉冲的峰值功率12.8 kW,为已有报道最高值的近2倍。Semiconductor disk lasers (SDLs) have advantages of high output power and good beam quality. Its flexible external cavity provides convenience for inserting additional optical element to start mode locking and produce ultra-short pulse train with duration from picosecond to femtosecond. However, the very short lifetime of about a few nanoseconds to tens of nanosecond of the carrier in semiconductor gain medium limits the decrease of pulse repetition rate, thus restrict the increase of peak power of the mode-locked laser pulse to some extent. In this work, by using the relatively shallow In0.2GaAs quantum wells, which has a relatively long carrier lifetime in the active region of gain chip, as well as the particularly designed semiconductor saturable absorption mirror (SESAM) that with a relatively small saturation flux, a passively mode-locked SDL with low repetition rate and high peak power is demonstrated. The used six-mirror cavity has a spot radius of about 200 μm on the chip and a 40 μm spot on the SESAM, and the total cavity length is about of 1.92 m. The SESAM passively mode-locked SDL produces a stable pulses train with the lowest repetition rate of 78 MHz. When the temperature is 12℃ and the transmittance of the output coupler is T = 3%, an average output power of 2.1 W and a pulse duration of 2.08 ps are achieved. The corresponding pulse peak power reaches 12.8 kW, which is about twice of the reported highest peak power in a SESAM mode-locked SDL. When T = 2% and T = 5%, the obtained average output power are 1.34 W and 1.62 W respectively, and the corresponding pulse peak power are 8.17 kW and 9.88 kW. Based on the reported literatures and the results of pulse repetition rate in our experiments, the estimated lifetime of the carriers of the In0.2GaAs quantum wells in the active region of the gain used chip is 16.4 ns. This high peak power mode-locked semiconductor disk laser has important potential applications in biomedical photonics, chemistry, and nonlinear microscopy.
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Keywords:
- semiconductor disk laser /
- SESAM /
- mode-locked /
- peak power
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