High-power terahertz optical pulse generation with a dual-wavelength harmonically mode-locked Yb:YAG laser

Abstract

We report on high-power terahertz optical pulse generation with a dual-wavelength harmonically mode-locked Yb:YAG laser. A semiconductor saturable absorber mirror is developed to achieve synchronously mode-locked operation at two spectral bands centered at 1031.67 and 1049.42 nm with a pulse duration of 1.54 ps and a pulse repetition rate of 80.3 GHz. With a diamond heat spreader to improve the heat removal efficiency, the average output power can be up to 1.1 W at an absorbed pump power of 5.18 W. The autocorrelation traces reveal that the mode-locked pulse is modulated with a beat frequency of 4.92 THz and displays a modulation depth to be greater than 80%.