SKM 2023 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 12: Semiconductor lasers I

HL 12.4: Talk

Monday, March 27, 2023, 15:45–16:00, POT 112

Membrane saturable absorber mirror (MESAM) in a red-emitting VECSEL for the generation of stable ultrashort pulses — •Ana Ćutuk, Marius Grossmann, Michael Jetter, and Peter Michler — Institut für Halbleiteroptik und Funktionelle Grenzflächen, Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (IQST) and SCoPE, Universität Stuttgart, Allmandring 3, 70569 Stuttgart

Optically-pumped semiconductor disk lasers, also known as vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs), provide several advantageous properties like near-diffraction-limited beam profile and the flexibility to add optical components inside the laser cavity and thereby modify the laser characteristics. One example is the semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), a monolithic semiconductor structure consisting of a saturable absorber region on top of a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). However, the epitaxial growth of SESAMs can be limited by the DBR design, making it difficult to fabricate pulsed lasers with wavelengths within spectral gaps. We demonstrate a membrane saturable absorber mirror (MESAM) which overcomes the growth restrictions of the DBR. A membrane containing the active region only is combined with a dielectric mirror and thus simulates a SESAM with an increased flexibility in design. We compare the dynamic properties of a SESAM- and MESAM-mode-locked VECSEL. With both devices we obtain fundamental mode locking with pulse durations in the ps-range.