Harmonic mode locking of a Nd:BEL laser using a 20-GHz dielectric resonator/optical modulator

A 20-GHz dielectric-resonator/optical modulator is developed and used as an FM mode locker at the 84th harmonic of a conventional 238-MHz diode-pumped Nd:BEL laser cavity. Depending on the mode-locker drive frequency, two distinct regimes of mode locking were observed: 2.9-ps pulses at a repetition rate of 238 MHz and 3.9-ps pulses at a repetition rate of 20 GHz. These are to our knowledge the shortest pulses ever reported for active mode locking of a Nd laser.