Optically pumped passively mode-locked VECSEL with output peak power of 1.32 KW

We report an optical-pumped mode-locked passively vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) implemented in w-shaped configuration to generate sub-picosecond pulses with more than 1 kW output peak power. To design this laser, the pulse evolution dynamics based on the master equation of mode-locking known as the Haus equation is solved with split-step Fourier transform method combined with the ray tracing model to obtain the optimized cavity structure generating the high output peak power. The experimental results are in good agreement with our numerical simulation. The laser operates at a fundamental repetition rate of 409 MHz with a pulse width of 860 fs and an output peak power of 1.32 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a passively mode-locked VECSEL to be reported theoretically and verified experimentally emitting a pulse train with an output peak power of more than 1 kW.