OpticaI

Frequency
Microwave Output
Frequency comb:
AIIows connection
between opticaI and
microwave frequencies
1 mW
10 mW
100 mW
1 W
10 W
a
v
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r
a
g
e

o
u
t
p
u
t

p
o
w
e
r
100 fs 1 ps 10 ps 100 ps
pulse duration
QW-VECSEL with SESAM
QD-VECSEL with SESAM
MIXSEL
Ultrafast vertical external cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL)
A. S. Mayer, M. Mangold, C. A. Zaugg, S. M. Link, M. Golling,
B. W. Tilma, and U. Keller
ETH Zurich, Institute for Quantum Electronics, Ultrafast Laser Physics
MIXSEL2
RTD 2012
VECSEL: potential compact
frequency comb source with
gigahertz repetition rate
Phase shift by saturation
(Kramers-Kronig)
saturation + positive GDD
! quasi-solitons [1]
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20 p
h
a
s
e

c
h
a
n
g
e

(
m
r
a
d
)
-4 -2 0 2 4
time (ps)
pulse power (a.u.)
gain = 3
sesam = 2
total
experimentally veried in
picosecond regime [2]
[1] R. Paschotta, R Hring, A Garnache, S Hoogland, A.C Tropper, U Keller, Appl. Phys. B 75 (2002), 445
[2] M. Hoffmann, O.D. Sieber, D.J.H.C. Maas, V.J. Wittwer, M.Golling, T. Sdmeyer and U.Keller, Opt Express 18 (2010), 10143
Ultrafast VECSELs
Motivation
distributed Bragg reflectors
for lasing/pump wavelength
active region
QWs or QDs
AR
section
laser
pump
h
e
a
t

s
p
r
e
a
d
e
r
h
e
a
t

s
p
r
e
a
d
e
r
pump
output
coupler
SESAM
g
a
i
n

c
h
i
p
Pulse Formation Mechanism
frequency
high frep
low
frep
!easier to access to
individual lines
!higher power per
mode
!increased S/N ratio
Requirements
Broad spectrum
Fast measurement speed
Spectral stability
Mechanical compactness
SESAM:
passive loss-modulation
100.0
99.8
99.6
99.4
99.2
99.0
r
e
f
le
c
t
iv
it
y

(
%
)
1 10 100 1'000 10'000
pulse fluence (!J/cm2)
!Rns
!R
3.2
3.0
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
gain
loss
pulse
Current Status Conclusion & Outlook
compact self-referenceable
frequency comb from a
VECSEL
low noise Sub-200-fs pulses combined with high average power
Requirements
Compact system
Gigahertz repetition
rates
Multiphoton microscopy:
!high penetration depth
!high sensitivity
!exibility
(uorescence plus
second harmonic or
third harmonic image) Requirements
Pulsed IR-source
Cheap (compared to currently used Ti:Sapphire systems)
Spectroscopy Metrology Applications
Frequency Combs
Biomedical Imaging
Optical clock
Precise frequency
calibration
Gas spectroscopy
Process monitoring
and control
Requirements for self-
referenceable frequency comb
Low noise
Sub-200-fs pulses combined with
high average power
Sub-300 femtosecond QW-VECSEL
! 273-fs-pulses at 605 mW of average
output power in a 1.8 GHz-cavity

wavelength
filter
saturation noise
losses gain SESAM gain GDD
output coupler
[5] O. D. Sieber, V. J. Wittwer, M. Mangold, M. Hoffmann, M. Golling, T. Sdmeyer, U. Keller, Optics
Express 19 (2011), 3538, 2011
Chip Design Goals Experimental Results
First Watt-level femtosecond QD-VECSEL
[3]

! 784-fs-pulses with >1 W output power in a
5.4 GHz V-cavity
First CEO-frequency detection of a
SESAM-modelocked VECSEL
[4]

! amplied and recompressed 240-fs
pulses from a 100-mW VECSEL
[3] M. Hoffmann et. al., Optics Express (2011) vol. 19, 8108-8116

[4] C.A. Zaugg et. al., submitted to 6th EPS-QEOD Europhoton Conference
Theoretical Investigations & Simulations
Iterative application of
cavity elements on the
pulse
Macroscopic
measurable parameters
as input parameters
correct prediction of output
power and pulse duration
+
design guidelines
high gain saturation
fluences for short pulse
generation and high
output power
high small
signal gain for
high power
operation
low saturation
uences of SESAM for
short pulse generation
low and slightly
positive GDD for
femtosecond
pulses
saturation uence gain GDD saturation uence
MIXSEL

Modelocked Integrated
External-Cavity Surface
Emitting Laser
VECSEL Chip Structure
Cavity Design
Distributed Bragg reector (AlAs/GaAs)-pairs
grown on GaAs for laser reection
Active region: Laser light amplication in
quantum wells (QW) or quantum dots (QD)
Antireection-coating: Minimizing losses and
tuning group delay dispersion (GDD)
V- or Z-shape cavity
Pumping under 45
SESAM: SEmiconductor Saturable Absorber
Mirror to obtain self-starting pulsed operation
1:1 mode-locking
(spot size on SESAM
= spot size on
VECSEL)
VECSEL: compact & cheap
pulsed laser source in the IR
spectral range
Dynamic gain
saturation
Losses decrease
faster than gain
!net gain window
VECSEL SESAM
optical frequencies
RF beat note
Integration of
the absorber
SESAM
VECSEL
Cavity Design Goals
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20

i
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(
d
B
c
)
1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
frequency (GHz)
RBW 100 kHz
f
CEO 2
f
CEO 1
f
rep
=1.75 GHz
-80
-60
-40
-20
0

i
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.

(
d
B
c
)
1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600
wavelength (nm)
6
8
0

n
m
1
3
6
0

n
m
signal
background

RBW 5 nm