Passively modelocked 832nm vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser producing 15.3ps pulses at 1.9GHz repetition rate

A passively modelocked 832nm vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser, producing pulses of a duration of 15.3ps at a repetition rate of 1.9GHz, has been demonstrated. A fast surface-recombination semiconductor saturable absorber mirror, with a bi-temporal absorption recovery characteristic, consisting of fast and slow time constants of 1.5 and 200ps, respectively, was used to form the pulses.