Timing Jitter Characterization of a Free-Running SESAM Mode-locked VECSEL
We present timing jitter measurements of an InGaAs quantum well vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) passively mode locked with a quantum dot semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) at 2-GHz repetition rate. It generates 53-mW average output power in 4.6-ps pulses at 953...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IEEE
2011-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Photonics Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5893899/ |
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| Summary: | We present timing jitter measurements of an InGaAs quantum well vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) passively mode locked with a quantum dot semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) at 2-GHz repetition rate. It generates 53-mW average output power in 4.6-ps pulses at 953 nm. The laser housing was optimized for high mechanical stability to reduce acoustic noise. We use a fiber-coupled multimode 808-nm pump diode, which is mounted inside the laser housing. No active cavity length stabilization is employed. The phase noise of the free-running laser integrated over a bandwidth from 100 Hz to 1 MHz corresponds to an RMS timing jitter of <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\approx$</tex></formula>212 fs, which is lower than previously obtained for mode-locked VECSELs. This clearly confirms the superior noise performance expected from a high-Q-cavity semiconductor laser. In contrast to edge-emitting semiconductor diode lasers, the cavity mode is perpendicular to the quantum well gain layers, which minimizes complex dispersion and nonlinear dynamics. |
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| ISSN: | 1943-0655 |