Optically pumped DBR-free semiconductor disk lasers.

We report high power distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)-free semiconductor disk lasers. With active regions lifted off and bonded to various transparent heatspreaders, the high thermal impedance and narrow bandwidth of DBRs are mitigated. For a strained InGaAs multi-quantum-well sample bonded to a single-crystalline chemical-vapor deposited diamond, a maximum CW output power of 2.

Intra-cavity cryogenic optical refrigeration using high power vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs).

A 7% Yb:YLF crystal is laser cooled to 131 ± 1 K from room temperature by placing it inside the external cavity of a high power InGaAs/GaAs VECSEL operating at 1020 nm with 0.15 nm linewidth. This is the lowest temperature achieved in the intracavity geometry to date and presents major progress towards realizing an all-solid-state compact optical cryocooler.

Exploring ultrafast negative Kerr effect for mode-locking vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

We present analytical considerations of "self-mode-locked" operation in a typical vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) cavity geometry by means of Kerr lens action in the semiconductor gain chip. We predict Kerr-lens mode-locked operation for both soft- and hard-apertures placed at the optimal intra-cavity positions. These predictions are experimentally verified in a Kerr-lens mode-locked VECSEL capable of producing pulse durations of below 500 fs at 1 GHz repetition rate.