Passive femtosecond mode-locking and cw laser performance of Yb3+: Sc2SiO5

The authors report on the passive mode-locking and cw lasing performance of Yb3+: Sc(2)SiO(5) (Yb: SSO) in an x-fold cavity end-pumped by a 978 nm single emitter. The laser produced a maximum cw output power of 2.73 W with a slope efficiency of 70%. Passive mode-locking of Yb: SSO was initiated using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) while dispersion compensation was introduced using a pair of SF10 prisms. The laser mode-locked at 1041 nm, 1060 nm and 1077 nm with near Fourier transformed limited pulse width of 145 fs, 144 fs and 125 fs, and average output power of 40 mW, 52 mW and 102 mW, respectively. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first demonstration of femtosecond mode-locking of Yb: SSO.