44-fs pulse generation at 2.05 µm from a SESAM mode-locked Tm:GdScO₃ laser

Pulses as short as 44 fs (6 optical cycles) with a spectral width of 120 nm are generated from a mode-locked solid-state laser near 2 µm employing an orthorhombic Tm:GdScO₃ perovskite crystal. The average power amounts to 188 mW at a repetition rate of ∼77.6 MHz. The strong inhomogeneous line broadening in GdScO₃ suggests optimum conditions for few-optical-cycle pulse generation of rare-earth ion doped GdScO₃ bulk lasers.