Second harmonic pico-second pulse generation with mode-locked 1064nm DBR laser diodes

Detailed experimental investigations of the generation of high-energy short infrared and green pulses with a mode-locked multi-section distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser in dependence on the lengths of the gain section and the saturableabsorber (SA) section as well the corresponding input currents and reverse voltages, respectively, are presented. The laser under investigation is 3.5 mm long and has a 500 μm long DBR section. The remaining cavity was divided into four 50 μm, four 100 μm, two 200 μm and eight 250 μm long electrically separated segments so that the lengths of the gain and SA sections can be simply varied by bonding. Thus, the dependence of the mode-locking behavior on the lengths of the gain and SA sections can be investigated on the same device. Optimal mode-locking was obtained for absorber lengths between LAbs = 200 μm and 300 μm and absorber voltages between UAbs= -2 V and -3 V. A pulse length of τ ≈ 10 ps, a repetition frequency of 13 GHz and a RF line width of less than 100 kHz were measured. An infrared peak pulse power of 900 mW was reached. The FWHM of the optical spectrum was about 150 pm. With an 11.5 mm long periodically poled MgO doped LiNbO3 crystal having a ridge geometry of 5 μm width and 4 μm height green light pulses were generated. With an infrared pump peak power of 900 mW a green pulse energy of 3.15 pJ was reached. The opto-optical conversion efficiency was about 31%.