SELFSTARTING FEMTOSECOND OPERATION AND TRANSIENT DYNAMICS OF A DIODE-ENDPUMPED CR-LISGAF LASER WITH A SEMICONDUCTOR SATURABLE ABSORBER MIRROR

We report on the generation of 61-fs pulses at a repetition rate of 11 9 MHz from a passively mode-locked diode-pumped Cr:LiSGaF laser with t he crystal at the end of the cavity. Stable selfstarting soliton model ocking was achieved by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESA M), using one or two 500-mW AlGaInP laser diodes for pumping. In model ocked operation we measured average output powers of up to 78 mW. In a cw configuration, without the dispersion prisms and the SESAM, the ou tput power was as high as 230 mW. The build-up time of the ultrashort pulses was measured to be as short as 140 mu s with a variability of 1 5%.