SATURABLE BRAGG-REFLECTOR MODE-LOCKED NACL-OH- COLOR-CENTER LASER

We extend the use of a saturable Bragg reflector to modelock a NaCl:OH - color center laser, producing pulses adjustable from 200 fs to 2 ps, and tunable from 1.499 mu m to 1.535 mu m, with the minimum pulsewidt h near 1.51 mu m. The laser is self-starting, requires no dedicated di spersion compensating optics, and maintains a highly stable, nearly tr ansform limited output pulse train with up to 150 mW average output po wer.