Neodymium:YLF lasers at 1053 nm passively mode locked with a saturable Bragg reflector

We present the results obtained from three different setups of stable, diode-laser-pumped Nd:YLF lasers that operate in the TEM00 mode at 1053 nm and are passively mode locked by a saturable Bragg reflector. We obtained pulse widths tailored between approximately 70 ps and approximately 4 ns by using intracavity etalons of various thicknesses. With a maximum output power of 680 mW, we achieved an optical efficiency of 23%.