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arXiv · 1405.5031

Gigahertz Self-referenceable Frequency Comb from a Semiconductor Disk Laser

Christian A. Zaugg·Alexander Klenner·Mario Mangold·Aline S. Mayer·Sandro M. Link·Florian Emaury·Matthias Golling·Emilio Gini·Clara J. Saraceno·Bauke W. Tilma·Ursula Keller
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Abstract

We present a 1.75-GHz self-referenceable frequency comb from a vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) passively modelocked with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The VECSEL delivers 231-fs pulses with an average power of 100 mW and is optimized for stable and reliable operation. The optical spectrum was centered around 1038 nm and nearly transform-limited with a full width half maximum (FWHM) bandwidth of 5.5 nm. The pulses were first amplified to an average power of 5.5 W using a backward-pumped Yb-doped double-clad large mode area (LMA) fiber and then compressed to 85 fs with 2.2 W of average power with a passive LMA fiber and transmission gratings. Subsequently, we launched the pulses into a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and generated a coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum (SC). We then detected the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency (fCEO) beat note using a standard f-to-2f-interferometer. The fCEO exhibits a signal-to-noise ratio of 17 dB in a 100-kHz resolution bandwidth and a FWHM of 10 MHz. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the detection of the fCEO from a semiconductor laser, opening the door to fully stabilized compact frequency combs based on modelocked semiconductor disk lasers.

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Christian A. Zaugg, Alexander Klenner, Mario Mangold, Aline S. Mayer, Sandro M. Link, Florian Emaury, Matthias Golling, Emilio Gini, Clara J. Saraceno, Bauke W. Tilma, Ursula Keller. 2014-05-21. Gigahertz Self-referenceable Frequency Comb from a Semiconductor Disk Laser. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.22.016445

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