Picosecond pulse generation in a hybrid Q-switched laser source by using a microelectromechanical mirror.

We present a novel Q-switched laser source using a micro-optical-electromechanical mirror (MOEM) designed for short pulse emission. It is based on a hybrid configuration including a passively Q-switched microchip laser coupled to a fiber cavity closed by a cantilever type MOEM acting as an active modulator. This specially designed mirror with a single reflecting gold membrane is switched by low bias voltage ~50 V (peak to peak).

Hybrid Q-switched broadband laser source with low timing jitter.

We present a novel broadband laser source based on a dual cavity in which a subnanosecond passively Q-switched microchip laser is coupled with a long cavity including an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) and a microstructured optical fiber working as a non linear medium. This active-passive Q-switched laser source emits pulses as short as those emitted by the free running microchip laser (~600 ps). The time pulse emission is governed by the AOM allowing tunable repetition rate from 0 to more than 4 kHz with a temporal jitter reduced to less than 50 ns, i.

Shortening pulses from subnanosecond to picosecond by means of ultrafast temporal filtering in an optical fiber.

Taking advantage of the combination of stimulated Raman scattering and nonlinear polarization rotation in a single-mode optical fiber, a temporal reshaping of subnanosecond pulses is achieved by means of both spectral and polarization filtering. Shortening of 650 ps down to 43 ps temporally and spectrally stable pulses is experimentally obtained. Numerical simulations supporting this new temporal filtering are presented.