PbS:glass as broad-bandwidth near-infrared light source material.

Silicate- and borosilicate-based PbS:glass material and borosilicate-glass-based fibers are fabricated and analyzed. Optical properties including absorption and emission are characterized and related to growth and annealing conditions. In silicate glasses PbS volume fractions of exceeding 0.

Femtosecond Neodymium-doped microstructure fiber laser.

We demonstrate femtosecond operation of a Nd-doped mi-crostructure fiber laser. The fiber provides gain and anomalous dispersion at the lasing wavelength of 1.06 microm and enables the construction of short and simple cavity designs.

Mode-locked Nd-doped microstructured fiber laser.

We demonstrate passive mode-locking of a microstructured fiber laser for the first time. The Nd-doped microstructured fiber exhibits a reduced dispersion at 1060 nm. A semiconductor saturable absorber mirror is used for passive mode-locking.

Low-temperature-GaAs device used simultaneously as a mode-locking device and as a photoconductive switch.

We present a low-temperature-grown GaAs device that combines the features of mode locking and photoconductive switching. The mode-locking mechanism is based on intensity-dependent defocusing. Additionally, the generated carriers produce an electrical signal in the biased switch geometry.

Cladding pumped large-mode-area Nd-doped holey fiber laser.

A large Nd-doped core placed in a microstructure cladding (holey fiber) was pumped with a low-brightness diode laser. The area ratio of the pump radiation on the fiber to the core was larger than 30. The fiber length was 38 cm.