Sub-500-fs soliton-like pulse in a passively mode-locked broadband surface-emitting laser with 100 mW average power

We report on femtosecond operation of a broadband diode-pumped external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser, passively mode locked with a fast quantum-well Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror grown at 735 degreesC. We obtained 477 fs pulses at 1.21 GHz. The average output power is 100 mW at 1040 nm, the pulse peak power 152 W, with similar to1 W of 830 nm pump. The rf spectrum shows a linewidth <50 kHz at the noise level (-65 dB). We believe that the group-delay dispersion is compensated by the negative self-phase modulation in the absorber structure, leading to soliton-like mode locking. This system requires no additional technological step after the growth of the structures. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.