Advanced Ti:Er:LiNbO3 waveguide lasers

This paper reviews the latest developments of diode-pumped Ti:Er:LiNbO3 waveguide lasers emitting at wavelengths around 1.5 mu m In particular, harmonically mode-locked lasers, Q-switched lasers, distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)-lasers, and self-frequency doubling lasers are discussed in detail, Supermode stabilized mode-locked lasers have been realized using a coupled cavity concept; a side mode suppression ratio of 55 dB has been achieved at 10-GHz pulse repetition rate with almost transform limited pulses. Q-switched lasers with a high extinction ratio (>25 dB) intracavity electrooptic switch emitted pulses with a peak power level up to 2.5 kW and a pulsewidth down to 2.1 ns at 1-kHz repetition frequency, Numerical simulations for both lasers are in a good, almost quantitative agreement with experimental results, A DBR-laser of narrow linewidth (approximate to 3 GHz) with a permanent (fixed) photorefractive grating and 5 mW output power has been realized, Self frequency doubling lasers have been fabricated with a periodic microdomain structure inside an Er-doped laser cavity; simultaneous emission at the fundamental wavelength, 1531 nm, and at the second harmonic wavelength, 765 nm, has been obtained.