First mode-locked ceramic laser: Femtosecond Yb3+:Y2O3 ceramic laser

A mode-locked femtosecond ceramic laser based on Yb 3+ :Y 2 O 3 ceramics is presented. A laser pumped by a 4-W broad-stripe diode was passively mode-locked by semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors. Almost transform-limited 430-fs and 615-fs pulses have been successfully generated at center wavelengths of 1037 and 1076.5 nm with 210 and 420 mW average powers, respectively. The repetition rate was 98 MHz, and the pulse energy and peak power were as high as 4.3 nJ and 7 kW.