ULTRAFAST SOLID-STATE MODE-LOCKED LASERS USING RESONANT NONLINEARITIES

Major advances have occurred recently in ultrafast laser technology using solid-state laser materials. These materials have interesting properties such as room temperature operation, high energy storage density, and broad bandwidth, all of which are desirable for high power tunable ultrafast laser operation. We discuss recent experiments in which resonant nonlinearities are used in order to directly mode lock solid-state lasers or to initiate self-focusing mode locking.