Mode-locked erbium/ytterbium co-doped waveguide laser

Summary form only given. High-power, low-jitter optical pulse sources are critical for high-data-rate communication systems and optical sampling systems used for highspeed analog-to-digital conversion. Planar waveguide lasers based on Er/Yb co-doped phosphate glass can produce continuous-wave output powers that exceed 170 mW. These same lasers have the potential for producing similarly high average powers when mode locked. We present mode locking results using Er/Yb co-doped glass and semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) that demonstrate improvements in output power over earlier work.