Transverse mode-locking in microcavity lasers

We experimentally demonstrate mode-locking between the transverse modes of a laser. A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with evenly-spaced transverse modes is shown to emit a train of 2.1±0.1 ps pulses with an 11 ps repetition rate and a timing jitter of 235±30 fs. Transverse mode-locking in microcavity lasers has potential to improve the compactness, stability, integrability, repetition rate tunability, and efficiency of ultrafast optical communication sources.