Diode-pumped passively mode-locked femtosecond Yb:YLF laser at 1.1 GHz

We report femtosecond pulse generation at GHz repetition rates with the Yb:YLF gain medium for the first time. A simple, low-cost, and compact architecture is implemented for the potential usage of the system as a low-noise timing jitter source. The system is pumped by 250 mW, 960 nm single-mode diodes from both sides. The semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) mode-locked laser is self-starting and generates transform-limited 210 fs long pulses near 1050 nm. The laser's average output power is 40 mW, corresponding to a pulse energy of 36 pJ at 1.1 GHz repetition rate. The measured laser relative intensity noise (RIN) from 1 Hz to 1 MHz is 0.42%. The performance obtained in this initial work is limited by the specifications of the available optics and could be improved significantly by employing custom-designed optical elements.