Picosecond pulses of variable duration from a high-power passively mode-locked Nd:YVO_(4) laser free of spatial hole burning

摘要

We report on a high-power passively mode-locked TEM_(00) Nd:YVO_(4) oscillator, 888 nm diode-pumped, with pulse durations adjustable between 46 ps and 12 ps. The duration tunability was obtained by varying the output coupler (OC) transmission while avoiding resorting to spatial hole burning (SHB) for pulse shortening. At a repetition rate of 91 MHz and for an output power ranging from 15 W to 45 W, we produced SHB-free 12-ps- to 32-ps-long pulses. Within this range of power, these are the shortest pulse durations obtained directly from Nd:YVO_(4) oscillators.