Developments in mode-locked lasers and their applications

Abstract

The most important recent advance with respect to mode locking has been the development of 'colliding-pulse' mode locking. An important extension to this method is reported. According to this extension, the colliding pulse function is obtained by making use of an 'antiresonant ring' laser cavity. The new concept has been applied to a flash-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:YAG laser in a number of experiments. Attention is given to mode locking of a self-pumped phase conjugate laser, picosecond photoacoustic experiments, and picosecond pulses on semiconductor surfaces.