{"id":{"repo_id":"soton","oai_identifier":"oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:72372"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/soton/oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:72372","repository":{"repo_id":"soton","name":"University of Southampton","base_url":"https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Mode-locked surface emitting semiconductor lasers","abstract":"Optically-Pumped Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (OP-VECSELs) arc novel semiconductor-based lasers that have many advantages over other lasers in terms of the power scalability, good beam quality, compactness and low cost they can offer. They can be passively mode-locked with a Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror (SESAM) to produce transform-limited sub-300 fs pulses directly from the laser cavity with high repetition rates.<br/>This thesis describes an experimental and theoretical investigation of OP-VECSELs. A full characterization is done on a VECSEL sample to understand time physics behind its operation iii the Continuous Wave (CW) mode and in the mode—locked mode. Then. a numerical model that, for the first time, shows the role of the Optical Stark Effect (OSE) in shaping the mode-locked pulses in the approach to steady state is introduced. TIme model results are broadly consistent with observed behavior of our diode-locked VECSELs.<br/>Here, I also report the first coherent generation and detection of terahertz radiation using all-semiconductor components. Radiation with a bandwidth of 0.8 THz has been generated using sub-500 fs pulses with an average power of 20 mW from a mode-locked VECSEL which contains InGaAs quantum wells and an LT-GaAs/InGaAs emitter/receiver antenna in a Terahertz Time Domain Spectrometer (THz-TDS) setup. The first mode locked OP-VECSEL at 830 rim is reported here. The combination of a GaAs quantum well-based gain sample and SESAI\\I yielded an output with an average power of 5 mW and 15 ps-long pulses at a repetition rate of 1.9 GHz. A pumping module used to drive the laser was built for this purpose by combining the output of two commercial 665 nm diode lasers.","abstract_html":"Optically-Pumped Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (OP-VECSELs) arc novel semiconductor-based lasers that have many advantages over other lasers in terms of the power scalability, good beam quality, compactness and low cost they can offer. They can be passively mode-locked with a Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror (SESAM) to produce transform-limited sub-300 fs pulses directly from the laser cavity with high repetition rates.&lt;br/&gt;This thesis describes an experimental and theoretical investigation of OP-VECSELs. A full characterization is done on a VECSEL sample to understand time physics behind its operation iii the Continuous Wave (CW) mode and in the mode—locked mode. Then. a numerical model that, for the first time, shows the role of the Optical Stark Effect (OSE) in shaping the mode-locked pulses in the approach to steady state is introduced. TIme model results are broadly consistent with observed behavior of our diode-locked VECSELs.&lt;br/&gt;Here, I also report the first coherent generation and detection of terahertz radiation using all-semiconductor components. Radiation with a bandwidth of 0.8 THz has been generated using sub-500 fs pulses with an average power of 20 mW from a mode-locked VECSEL which contains InGaAs quantum wells and an LT-GaAs/InGaAs emitter/receiver antenna in a Terahertz Time Domain Spectrometer (THz-TDS) setup. The first mode locked OP-VECSEL at 830 rim is reported here. The combination of a GaAs quantum well-based gain sample and SESAI\\I yielded an output with an average power of 5 mW and 15 ps-long pulses at a repetition rate of 1.9 GHz. A pumping module used to drive the laser was built for this purpose by combining the output of two commercial 665 nm diode lasers.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mihoubi, Zakaria"],"institution":"University of Southampton","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Tropper, A"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-10","date_published":"2009-10","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:36:10Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Tropper, A"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mihoubi, Zakaria"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2009-10"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2009-10"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Quantum, Light & Matter Group (pre 2011 reorg)","School of Physics & Astronomy"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Southampton"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/72372/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/72372/1/thesis.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Optically-Pumped Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (OP-VECSELs) arc novel semiconductor-based lasers that have many advantages over other lasers in terms of the power scalability, good beam quality, compactness and low cost they can offer. They can be passively mode-locked with a Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror (SESAM) to produce transform-limited sub-300 fs pulses directly from the laser cavity with high repetition rates.<br/>This thesis describes an experimental and theoretical investigation of OP-VECSELs. A full characterization is done on a VECSEL sample to understand time physics behind its operation iii the Continuous Wave (CW) mode and in the mode—locked mode. Then. a numerical model that, for the first time, shows the role of the Optical Stark Effect (OSE) in shaping the mode-locked pulses in the approach to steady state is introduced. TIme model results are broadly consistent with observed behavior of our diode-locked VECSELs.<br/>Here, I also report the first coherent generation and detection of terahertz radiation using all-semiconductor components. Radiation with a bandwidth of 0.8 THz has been generated using sub-500 fs pulses with an average power of 20 mW from a mode-locked VECSEL which contains InGaAs quantum wells and an LT-GaAs/InGaAs emitter/receiver antenna in a Terahertz Time Domain Spectrometer (THz-TDS) setup. The first mode locked OP-VECSEL at 830 rim is reported here. The combination of a GaAs quantum well-based gain sample and SESAI\\I yielded an output with an average power of 5 mW and 15 ps-long pulses at a repetition rate of 1.9 GHz. A pumping module used to drive the laser was built for this purpose by combining the output of two commercial 665 nm diode lasers."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Mode-locked surface emitting semiconductor lasers"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Tropper, A"],"dc:creator":["Mihoubi, Zakaria"],"dc:date":["2009-10"],"dc:date.issued":["2009-10"],"dc:description.abstract":["Optically-Pumped Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (OP-VECSELs) arc novel semiconductor-based lasers that have many advantages over other lasers in terms of the power scalability, good beam quality, compactness and low cost they can offer. They can be passively mode-locked with a Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror (SESAM) to produce transform-limited sub-300 fs pulses directly from the laser cavity with high repetition rates.<br/>This thesis describes an experimental and theoretical investigation of OP-VECSELs. A full characterization is done on a VECSEL sample to understand time physics behind its operation iii the Continuous Wave (CW) mode and in the mode—locked mode. Then. a numerical model that, for the first time, shows the role of the Optical Stark Effect (OSE) in shaping the mode-locked pulses in the approach to steady state is introduced. TIme model results are broadly consistent with observed behavior of our diode-locked VECSELs.<br/>Here, I also report the first coherent generation and detection of terahertz radiation using all-semiconductor components. Radiation with a bandwidth of 0.8 THz has been generated using sub-500 fs pulses with an average power of 20 mW from a mode-locked VECSEL which contains InGaAs quantum wells and an LT-GaAs/InGaAs emitter/receiver antenna in a Terahertz Time Domain Spectrometer (THz-TDS) setup. The first mode locked OP-VECSEL at 830 rim is reported here. The combination of a GaAs quantum well-based gain sample and SESAI\\I yielded an output with an average power of 5 mW and 15 ps-long pulses at a repetition rate of 1.9 GHz. A pumping module used to drive the laser was built for this purpose by combining the output of two commercial 665 nm diode lasers."],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/72372/1/thesis.pdf"],"dc:publisher.department":["Quantum, Light & Matter Group (pre 2011 reorg)","School of Physics & Astronomy"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Southampton"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/72372/"],"dc:title":["Mode-locked surface emitting semiconductor lasers"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:36:10Z"}