We report on a Kerr lens, self-mode-locked Er³⁺:YVO₄ laser, based on the high third order nonlinearity of the gain medium. The Er³⁺:YVO₄ is resonantly pumped by a CW Er-fiber laser into the absorption band around 1538 nm and operates at ~ 1604 nm with a 1.8 W average output power and ~ 40% slope efficiency relative to the absorbed pump. The laser yields a pulse train at a 240 MHz repetition rate. The pulsewidth is estimated to fall between 15 and 100 psec.

Date Published: 20 May 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9466, Laser Technology for Defense and Security XI, 946608 (20 May 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2181873

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9466:
Laser Technology for Defense and Security XI
Mark Dubinskii; Stephen G. Post, Editor(s)