Pulse interactions in a colliding pulse mode-locked vertical external cavity surface emitting laser

The passive mode locking of vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs) enables the generation of high brightness ultrashort pulses at high repetition rates with unmatched performance. The peak power achievable with sub-200-fs pulse duration is mostly limited by the stability of the fundamental mode-locking regime as side pulses or harmonic mode locking emerges at high pump power. Here, we study a colliding pulse mode-locked VECSEL generating a pulse duration as short as 128 fs, with an average power of 90 mW per beam and a repetition rate of 3.27 GHz. The relevant laser parameters under different pumping regimes before and after the emergence of a side pulse are then used as input parameters for the simulation of the pulse interactions in the saturable absorber. We present a new comprehensive model for the calculation of saturable losses in the saturable absorber mirror and we study the energy transfer between the two counter-propagating pulses. This study reveals how a colliding pulse scheme reduces the saturation fluence of the absorber by a factor 2.9 and suppresses the mode competition between the two counterpropagating pulses of the ring cavity. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America