Diode-pumped passively mode-locked sub-picosecond Yb:LuAG ceramic laser

In this paper the laser activities of a diode-pumped Yb:LuAG ceramic which was prepared by the solid-state reactive sintering method were reported. The maximum output power was 1.86 W in the continuous wave (CW) laser operation, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 53.6%. The CW laser could be tuned from 1030 to 1096 nm by inserting a prism in the cavity. With the assist of a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), passive mode-locking was realized, delivering sub-picosecond pulses with 933 fs duration and an average power of 532 mW at a repetition rate of 90.35 MHz.