Mode-locked red-emitting semiconductor disk laser with sub-250 fs pulses

We report on passive mode locking of a semiconductor disk laser emitting pulses shorter than 250 fs at 664 nm with a repetition frequency of 836 MHz. A fast saturable absorber mirror fabricated by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy in a near-resonant design was used to enable the mode locking operation. It includes two GaInP quantum wells located close to the surface and an additional fused silica coating. The emission spectrum shows the superposition of a soliton-like part and a smaller “continuum” part.