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Experimentally verified pulse formation model for high-power femtosecond VECSELs

Sieber, Oliver ; Hoffmann, Martin ; Wittwer, Valentin ; Mangold, Mario ; Golling, Matthias ; Tilma, Bauke ; Südmeyer, Thomas ; Keller, Ursula

In: Applied Physics B, 2013, vol. 113, no. 1, p. 133-145

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    Title
    • Experimentally verified pulse formation model for high-power femtosecond VECSELs
    Author
    • Sieber, Oliver. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Hoffmann, Martin. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Wittwer, Valentin. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Mangold, Mario. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Golling, Matthias. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Tilma, Bauke. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Südmeyer, Thomas. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Keller, Ursula. Department of Physics, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 16, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    Document Type
    • Postprint
    Classification
    • Physics
    OAI-PMH Identifier
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:319426
    Summary
    Optically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (OP-VECSELs), passively modelocked with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), have generated the highest average output power from any sub-picosecond semiconductor laser. Many applications, including frequency comb synthesis and coherent supercontinuum generation, require pulses in the sub-300-fs regime. A quantitative understanding of the pulse formation mechanism is required in order to reach this regime while maintaining stable, high-average-power performance. We present a numerical model with which we have obtained excellent quantitative agreement with two recent experiments in the femtosecond regime, and we have been able to correctly predict both the observed pulse duration and the output power for the first time. Our numerical model not only confirms the soliton-like pulse formation in the femtosecond regime, but also allows us to develop several clear guidelines to scale the performance toward shorter pulses and higher average output power. In particular, we show that a key VECSEL design parameter is a high gain saturation fluence. By optimizing this parameter, 200-fs pulses with an average output power of more than 1W should be possible