Semiconductor seeded fibre amplified sources of ultra short pulses

This thesis reports upon an experimental investigation of passively mode-locked optically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers (VECSEL). Mode-locked VECSELs are a compact source of ultra-short pulses at GHz repetition rates, with pulse lengths as short as 190 fs being generated directly from the laser. The VECSEL is a power scalable device offering spectral versatility through band gap engineering of semiconductor gain material.<br/><br/>Here, for the first time the technique of frequency resolved optical gating (FROG) has been used to record a second harmonic spectrogram of the VECSEL pulse train, from which the phase information of non-transform limited sub-picosecond pulses has been retrieved. I also report the characterisation of a single stage VECSEL seeded ytterbium-doped fibre amplifier, capable of increasing the average power of a VECSEL from 20 mW to over 1.5 W while maintaining the sub-picosecond duration of the pulse train. The amplifier is capable of operating at any repetition rate obtainable with a VECSEL, amplification is demonstrated here with 1 GHz and 6 GHz seeds.<br/><br/>Finally, the nonlinear evolution of VECSEL pulses inside a single stage fibre amplifier has been investigated. Computer modelling of the linear gain and nonlinear pulse propagation within a single fibre has been used to design an amplifier capable of producing pulses with a parabolic profile. The modelling reveals that a parabolic amplifier would produce spectrally broader linearly chirped pulses which could be compressed to below 100 fs, with average powers &gt; 3 W. An experimental realisation of the parabolic amplifier will require a seed with average power greater than 100 mW, this could be achieved with a re-growth of an existing sample, QT1544.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Ph.D.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Southampton

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Elsmere, Stephen Paul

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Tropper, Anne