We experimentally demonstrate wavelength-tunable Self-Mode-Locking (SML) operation generated in an Optically Pumped Semiconductor Disk Laser (OP-SDL) with a straight cavity. The operation is achieved by insetting an etalon into the cavity, and wavelength tuning range of 11 nm can be achieved by adjusting the angle of etalon. After aligning the cavity carefully, stable self-mode-locking is obtained when the pump power was beyond 5 W, and the pulse period of 0.99 ns agrees well with the round-trip time determined by the optical cavity length of 148 mm. Meanwhile, the RF spectrum reveals a clean peak at the fundamental repetition rate of 1.01 GHz and the signal-to-noise ratio of the RF spectrum reaches 60 dB during the whole tuning process, indicating the stability of the pulse was quite excellent. Finally, we obtained a wavelength tunable SML optically pumped semiconductor disk laser. The experimental results prove that under the condition of adding an etalon in the cavity, the OP-SDL could remain a stable operation in a wider wavelength tuning range. This research is helpful to the development of wavelength tunable self-mode-locking optically pumped semiconductor disk lasers and hopes to obtain practical applications in related fields.
Ultrashort pulse lasers are widely used in laser spectroscopy, microwave measurements, high-speed sampling, medical diagnostics, communication systems, and many other fields. This work presents a tunable self-mode-locked semiconductor disk laser, which is based on the combination of the Kerr effect in the gain chip and the soft aperture formed by the overlap of pumping and laser spot. A linear resonator with a length of 93 mm is formed by the high reflectivity distributed Bragg reflector at the bottom of the gain chip and the external output coupler with 100 mm curvature radium. The mode-locking can be started by fine-tuning the size of the pump spot and the length of the resonator, and a stable self-mode-locked output can be achieved at 980 nm wavelength. Then, a thickness of 2 mm birefringent filter is inserted into the resonator at Brewster angle, and a continuous tuning of 37 nm wavelength was obtained by rotating the filter. The repetition rate of achieved stable mode-locked pulse train at 980 nm is 1.6 GHz, the pulse width is 4.3 ps, the maximum output power is 467 mW, and the corresponding peak power is 68 W.
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