Abstract

We propose an ultrafast Kerr-lens saturable absorber, which is suitable for incorporating monolithically into semiconductor waveguides. We propose suitable materials and geometries for device fabrication. We study the saturable absorption using numerical methods and consider the effect of such a hard Kerr-lens configuration on a monolithic passively mode-locked semiconductor diode device and the possibility of producing pulses of the order of hundreds of femtoseconds.

© 2006 Optical Society of America

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