FREQUENCY MODULATED MODE-LOCKING OF A DIODE-LASER PUMPED ND-LIYF4 LASER UTILIZING A KTIOPO4 PHASE MODULATOR

A potassium titanyl phosphate phase modulator was used to mode lock a diode laser pumped Nd:LiYF4 laser at 270 MHz. The autocorrelation was 15 ps and the spectral bandwidth 73 GHz. The phase noise of the laser was found to be 70 fs for frequencies > 100 Hz using a radio frequency spectrum analyzer technique. The high damage threshold and low absorption losses make this material well suited for the future development of high peak and average power laser systems. In addition, the low phase noise should be important for applications which require low timing jitter between a mode-locked laser source and an electronic reference signal.