Kerr-Lens Mode-Locked Tm,Ho:Ca(Gd,Y)AlO4 Laser

We demonstrate Kerr-lens mode-locked operation of a Tm,Ho:Ca(Gd,Y)AlO4 laser pumped by a narrow-linewidth, continuous-wave Ti:sapphire laser at 797 nm. Soliton pulses as short as 145 fs are generated at 2087.8 nm in σ-polarization via soft-aperture Kerr-lens mode-locking, with an average output power of 203 mW (0.5% output coupler) at ~80.5 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this result represents the first demonstration of a Kerr-lens mode-locked laser based on a Tm,Ho:Ca(Gd,Y)AlO4 crystal exhibiting both structural and compositional disorder.