MODE-LOCKED OPTICALLY PUMPED SEMICONDUCTOR LASER

摘要

A laser (10) includes an optically pumped semiconductor OPS gain- structure (16). The apparatus has a laser-resonator (11) which includes a mode-locking device for causing the laser to deliver modelocked pulses. The resonator has a total length selected such that the mode-locked pulses are delivered at a pulse repetition frequency of about 100 MHz. An optical arrangement within the resonator provides that radiation circulating in the resonator makes a plurality of incidences on the OPS gain-structure with a time less than the excited-state lifetime of the gain-structure between successive incidences.