Generation of Femtosecond Pulses in a Passively Mode-Locked 100 MHz Cr 4+ :YAG Laser

We report on the development of a passively mode-locked near-infrared femtosecond laser with Cr:YAG crystal that operates near room temperature. The laser wavelength could easily be tuned by using only the internal prism pair over 110 nm from 1400 nm to 1510 nm in cw and over about 30 nm in mode-locked operation, respectively Maximum cw output powers of 810 mW were obtained with output coupler for absorbed pump powers of 7.6 W. For compensation of the internal group velocity dispersion, an IR graded prism pair was used. The Cr:YAG laser delivered nearly Fourier-transform limited pulses with a pulse duration as short as 64 fs at 100 MHz repetition rate. In the mode-locked regime, the laser was operating at 1510 nm with a spectral bandwidth of 44 nm. In order to avoid unstable mode-locking and power instabilities, self-built tubes were inserted into the beam path in the resonator and purged with N2 gas. Finally, output powers of the Cr:YAG laser were optimized to 250 mW fer long time stable mode-locked operation.