Recent development of optically-pumped semiconductor laser (OPSL) technology provide a Ti:sapphire pump source reducing cost and complexity while maintaining a high standard of performance and reliability. In this paper we report on the performance of a compact (930 x 330 x 170 mm³), cavity-dumped ultrafast Ti:Sapphire laser oscillator pumped by an OPSL and using negative dispersion mirrors. The system generates broadband pulses of more than 45nJ pulse energy from single shot to 2 MHz repetition rate. At higher repetition rates the pulse energy decreases as it is typical for cavity dumped laser systems, but with 10 nJ at 27 MHz (division ratio of 1:2) the pulse energy is at the level of the Mantis in standard configuration (8 nJ). FWHM spectrum of the Mantis is specified >70nm and bandwidth over 100nm could be achieved by fine adjustment of the dispersion with intracavity wedges. Compressed pulse duration down to 12.5fs was measured. The system is based on the standard Coherent Mantis laser with a cavity dumper extension, making the footprint only 350 mm longer. It can be user configured either as standard oscillator or as a cavity dumped oscillator.

Date Published: 27 February 2009
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7193, Solid State Lasers XVIII: Technology and Devices, 71931M (27 February 2009);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7193:
Solid State Lasers XVIII: Technology and Devices
W. Andrew Clarkson; Norman Hodgson; Ramesh K. Shori, Editor(s)