Abstract

Recently, we have demonstrated passively mode- locked miniature Nd:YVO₄ lasers with up to 77 GHz repetition rate.¹ Here we show that mode locking is possible even at ≈157 GHz, although this repetition rate is already ≈60% of the FWHM gain bandwidth so that most of the power is delivered in a single longitudinal mode. Nevertheless the pulses are still reasonably well separated. We also show that Q-switching instabilities can be suppressed even at these high pulse repetition rates. Fig. 1 shows our laser setup. The 3% neodymium-doped crystal is about 440 μm long. The crystal has a curved side (10 mm radius of Curvature), which is coated for 99.8% reflectivity at the laser wavelength (1064 nm) and high transmission (>98%) at the pump wavelength (808 nm). The other side is flat polished and anti-reflection coated for the lasing wavelength.

© 2002 Optical Society of America