High average power mode locked Ti : Sapphire laser with intracavity continuous-wave amplifier and strained saturable Bragg reflector

Abstract

We demonstrate a new scheme for the generation of high average power femtosecond pulses by incorporating an intracavity amplifier and a strained saturable Bragg reflector with low saturation fluence for self-starting mode locking. When the Ti:sapphire oscillator and intracavity amplifier are pumped at 10W and 15W, respectively, the average output power is as high as 1.62 W. The pulse duration is about 145 fs, and the peak power reaches 160 kW at a 68 MHz repetition rate: The pulse-formation time of 400 mu s is sufficiently short to sustain stable mode locking.