Passively mode-locked diode-pumped solid-state lasers that use an antiresonant Fabry–Perot saturable absorber

We report passively mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YAG and Nd:YLF lasers that use an antiresonant Fabry–Perot saturable absorber. For Nd:YLF at 1047 nm, we achieved pulses of 5.1 ps FWHM with 225 mW of average power. For Nd:YAG at 1064 nm, we achieved pulse widths of 8.7 ps with 100 mW of average power. Both lasers ran at a repetition rate of 100 MHz. The frequency stability of the free-running lasers was sufficient to allow locking of the laser repetition rate to a synthesizer by using a phase-lock-loop feedback system.