Nonlinear chirp compensation in high-power (>100 W) broad spectrum (/spl sim/20 nm) pulses from mode-locked AlGaAs lasers

Abstract

In this paper, we show that very broad pulse spectra (20 nm) can be effectively obtained by active/hybrid mode-locking of long-stripe (1 mm) high-power AlGaAs laser diodes, the spectral widths corresponding in principle to sub-100 fs pulses in the transform-limit situation. A novel technique is presented in order to analyze chirp non-linearities (i.e, high-order dispersion effects) in the laser pulses. Second- and third-order dispersion compensation is realized with an external compressor, leading to 160 fs pulses after compression with peak powers in excess of 100 W.