Patent ID: 6373867
Filing Date: 2002-04-16
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
A laser, comprising:a pump light source which includes a semiconductor light source to produce a pump beam at a pump wavelength; a wave-guiding gain medium to absorb light at said pump wavelength to emit light at a laser wavelength within a spectral gain profile and is different from said pump wavelength; an optical coupler to couple said pump beam from said pump light source into said wave-guiding gain medium; first and second reflective elements disposed to form a linear optical resonator that encloses said wave-guiding gain medium and supports a plurality of longitudinal modes; a saturable absorber disposed in said optical resonator and formed of a material to exhibit an intensity-dependent absorption to effectuate a mode-locking mechanism that locks said longitudinal modes in phase to produce optical pulses at said laser wavelength, said material in said saturable absorber selected to exhibit a slow saturation process with a low saturation intensity to initiate said optical pulses and a fast saturation process with a high saturation intensity to shorten a temporal width of said pulses; and a tuning element located in said optical resonator to change at least one property of said optical pulses.