Optically Pumped GaSb-Based Thin-Disk Laser Design Considerations for CW and Dual-Comb Operation at a Center Wavelength Around 2 μm
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2024-11-25
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Abstract
Vertical emitting optically pumped semiconductor
laser technology in the GaSb material system, operating in the
short-wave infrared (SWIR) regime, has made significant advance-
ments recently. This paper reviews the key achievements leading to
the first demonstration of a passively modelocked optically pumped
thin-disk semiconductor laser, where both the saturable absorber
and the gain quantum wells are integrated into a single semicon-
ductor chip, known as the Modelocked Integrated eXternal-cavity
Surface Emitting Laser (MIXSEL). This GaSb-based MIXSEL
operates at a center wavelength of 2 µm, supporting both single
and dual-comb operations, with an average output power of 30
to 50 mW, pulse repetition rates of approximately 4 GHz, and
picosecond pulse durations. It enables initial proof-of-principle
dual-comb spectroscopy measurements. For this, we optimized
continuous wave (cw) Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting
Laser (VECSEL) operation at 2 µm without an intracavity heat-
spreader, enhanced group delay dispersion (GDD) compensation,
and introduced an additional pump mirror integration. Compared
to previous results, we achieved a significant performance increase
with pump-DBR 2-µm VECSEL with an average output power of
6 W, an optical pump efficiency of 30% and a reduced thermal
resistance of 1.9 K/W. Additionally, the better GDD compensation
improved modelocking at 2 µm with a SESAM (Semiconductor
Saturable Absorber Mirror), producing near-transform-limited
femtosecond pulses with a duration of 331 fs, an average power
of 30 mW at a pulse repetition rate of 2.77 GHz. Successful
integration of the saturable absorber within the MIXSEL chip
required matching of the cavity mode sizes on both the SESAM
and the VECSEL chip. This paper details the optimization pro-
cesses and resulting performance enhancements that mark a sig-
nificant milestone in the development of GaSb-based thin disk laser
technology.
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ETH Zurich
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Dual-comb generation, GaSb, MIXSEL, mode- locking, optically pumped semiconductor laser, SESAM, short- wave-infrared lasers, VECSEL.
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02205 - FIRST-Lab / FIRST Center for Micro- and Nanoscience
03371 - Keller, Ursula (emeritus) / Keller, Ursula (emeritus)
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787097 - Mid-infrared optical dual-comb generation and spectroscopy with one unstabilized semiconductor laser (EC)
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Is supplement to: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000702022