Efficient femtosecond Yb:YAG laser pumped by a single-mode laser diode

We have investigated a single-mode, 300-mW laser diode for pumping at 935 nm a Yb:YAG laser passively mode-locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber. Relatively short pulse generation (156 fs), tunable across the 1033 - 1059 nm range with 30% optical-to-optical efficiency, has been demonstrated. Therefore, contrarily to what previously believed, compact diode-pumped ultrafast Yb:YAG oscillators can reliably and efficiently deliver pulses in the range of ≈ 100 - 200 fs with few tens of mW, which are very appealing for bio-diagnostics and amplifier seeding applications