Quasistationary pulse generation in flash-lamp-pumped Nd3+: Y3Al5O12 laser mode locked through quadratic polarization switching

Extended quasi-steady-state pulse train is developed through the all-solid-state combination of passive negative feedback in a GaAs platelet and positive feedback through cascaded chi((2)) polarization switching. With an actively mode-locked flash-lamp-pumped Nd3+:Y3Al5O12 laser, stationary pulse trains lasting for 1 mu s with pulses of duration of 11.6 ps and energy of 6.5 mu J are obtained. The total output amounts for 1.73 mJ and the pulse evolution demonstrates that the semiconductor two photon absorption is able to realize a pulse compression from 43.9 to 11.6 ps. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.