Abstract

Passive mode locking of a cw (chopped) color-center laser using a saturable-absorber polymethine cyanine dye is reported for the first time to our knowledge. By employing the dye IR 140 for passive mode locking, we have obtained stable-output trains of pulses from a LiF:F₂⁺ laser at wavelengths around 870 nm. When the technique of colliding-pulse mode locking was implemented in a ring-cavity configuration, pulses having durations as short as 390 fsec were generated.

© 1987 Optical Society of America

Subpicosecond-pulse generation in a synchronously mode-locked ring color-center laser

N. Langford, K. Smith, and W. Sibbett
Opt. Lett. 12(10) 817-819 (1987)

Group-velocity-dispersion compensation of a passively mode-locked ring LiF:F₂⁺ color-center laser

N. Langford, R. S. Grant, C. I. Johnston, K. Smith, and W. Sibbett
Opt. Lett. 14(1) 45-47 (1989)

Passive mode locking of a continuous-wave energy-transfer dye laser operating in the near infrared around 750 nm

P. M. W. French, J. A. R. Williams, and J. R. Taylor
Opt. Lett. 12(9) 684-686 (1987)

Passive coupled-cavity mode-locked color-center lasers

R. S. Grant, P. N. Kean, D. Burns, and W. Sibbett
Opt. Lett. 16(6) 384-386 (1991)

Generation of 36-fsec pulses near 775 nm from a colliding-pulse passively mode-locked dye laser

P. Georges, F. Salin, and A. Brun
Opt. Lett. 14(17) 940-942 (1989)