Generation of 90-nJ pulses with a 4-MHz repetition-rate Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:Al2O3 laser operating with net positive and negative intracavity dispersion

We demonstrate the generation of high-energy pulses by using a low-repetition-rate Kerr-lens mode-locked laser. Repetition rates as low as 4 MHz were achieved with a long, multiple-pass cavity and a semiconductor saturable Bragg reflector. The laser generated pulses of 55-fs duration with a pulse energy of 48 nJ when it was mode locked in the net negative dispersion regime. Mode locking in the positive dispersion regime reduces instabilities and enables pulses to have durations of 80 fs and energies as high as 90 nJ. This is, to our knowledge, the highest pulse energy and the lowest repetition rate ever generated directly from a femtosecond laser resonator without cavity dumping. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.