An actively mode-locked Ho: YAG solid laser pumped by a Tm: YLF laser

A continuous wave mode-locked (CWML) Ho: YAG laser based on an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) pumped by a 1.9 μm Tm: YLF laser is demonstrated. This is the first time a report on an active CWML Ho: YAG laser has been published. A maximum output power of 1.04 W at 2097.25 nm in the CWML regime is obtained at a pump power of 13.2 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 13.3%. The mode-locked pulse repetition frequency is 82.76 MHz and the single pulse energy is 12.57 nJ. The mode-locked pulse width is 102 ps measured through a no-background second harmonic autocorrelation with KTP as the nonlinear crystal. Furthermore, the M2 factor is calculated to be 1.146.