Diode-Pumped Passively Mode-Locked Nd:YVO 4 Lasers With 40-GHz Repetition Rate

Abstract—We present two different diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:YVO 4 lasers with a repetition rate of 40 GHz. This is the highest repetition rate demonstrated so far with diode-pumped 1- m solid-state lasers. The first laser design allows short pulses of 2.7-ps duration whereas the second laser de-sign is optimized for high average output power of up to 288 mW. We compare both design approaches and show that there is a tradeoff between output power and pulse duration. Index Terms—Diode-pumped lasers, high-pulse repetition rates, mode-locked lasers, semiconductor absorbers. I