Abstract
Ultrashort lasers provide an important tool to probe the dynamics of physical systems at very short time-scales, allowing for improved understanding of the performance of many devices and phenomena used in science, technology, and medicine. In addition ultrashort pulses also provide a high peak intensity and a broad optical spectrum, which opens even more applications such as material processing, nonlinear optics, attosecond science, and metrology. There has been a long-standing, ongoing effort in the field to reduce the pulse duration and increase the power of these lasers to continue to empower existing and new applications. After 1990, new techniques such as semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) and Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) allowed for the generation of stable pulse trains from diode-pumped solid-state lasers for the first time, and enabled the performance of such lasers to improve by several orders of magnitude with regards to pulse duration, pulse energy and pulse repetition rates. This invited review article gives a broad overview and includes some personal accounts of the key events during the last 20 years, which made ultrafast solid-state lasers a success story. Ultrafast Ti:sapphire, diode-pumped solid-state, and novel semiconductor laser oscillators will be reviewed. The perspective for the near future indicates continued significant progress in the field.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
U. Keller, D.A.B. Miller, G.D. Boyd, T.H. Chiu, J.F. Ferguson, M.T. Asom, Opt. Lett. 17, 505 (1992)
U. Keller, K.J. Weingarten, F.X. Kärtner, D. Kopf, B. Braun, I.D. Jung, R. Fluck, C. Hönninger, N. Matuschek, J. Aus der Au, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 2, 435 (1996)
D.E. Spence, P.N. Kean, W. Sibbett, Opt. Lett. 16, 42 (1991)
P.F. Moulton, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 3, 125 (1986)
U. Keller, in Landolt-Börnstein. Laser Physics and Applications. Subvolume B: Laser Systems. Part I, ed. by G. Herziger, H. Weber, R. Proprawe (Springer, Heidelberg, 2007), p. 33
U. Keller, Prog. Opt. 46, 1 (2004)
U. Keller, Nature 424, 831 (2003)
U. Keller, A.C. Tropper, Phys. Rep. 429, 67 (2006)
R.L. Fork, C.H.B. Cruz, P.C. Becker, C.V. Shank, Opt. Lett. 12, 483 (1987)
D.H. Sutter, G. Steinmeyer, L. Gallmann, N. Matuschek, F. Morier-Genoud, U. Keller, V. Scheuer, G. Angelow, T. Tschudi, Opt. Lett. 24, 631 (1999)
U. Morgner, F.X. Kärtner, S.H. Cho, Y. Chen, H.A. Haus, J.G. Fujimoto, E.P. Ippen, V. Scheuer, G. Angelow, T. Tschudi, Opt. Lett. 24, 411 (1999)
U. Morgner, F.X. Kärtner, S.H. Cho, Y. Chen, H.A. Haus, J.G. Fujimoto, E.P. Ippen, V. Scheuer, G. Angelow, T. Tschudi, Opt. Lett. 24, 920 (1999)
R. Ell, U. Morgner, F.X. Kärtner, J.G. Fujimoto, E.P. Ippen, V. Scheuer, G. Angelow, T. Tschudi, M.J. Lederer, A. Boiko, B. Luther-Davies, Opt. Lett. 26, 373 (2001)
F.X. Kärtner, N. Matuschek, T. Schibli, U. Keller, H.A. Haus, C. Heine, R. Morf, V. Scheuer, M. Tilsch, T. Tschudi, Opt. Lett. 22, 831 (1997)
R. Szipöcs, K. Ferencz, C. Spielmann, F. Krausz, Opt. Lett. 19, 201 (1994)
N. Matuschek, F.X. Kärtner, U. Keller, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 4, 197 (1998)
T. Südmeyer, S.V. Marchese, S. Hashimoto, C.R.E. Baer, G. Gingras, B. Witzel, U. Keller, Nat. Photonics 2, 599 (2008)
S.V. Marchese, C.R.E. Baer, A.G. Engqvist, S. Hashimoto, D.J.H.C. Maas, M. Golling, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, Opt. Express 16, 6397 (2008)
J. Neuhaus, D. Bauer, J. Zhang, A. Killi, J. Kleinbauer, M. Kumkar, S. Weiler, M. Guina, D.H. Sutter, T. Dekorsy, Opt. Express 16, 20530 (2008)
C.R.E. Baer, C. Kränkel, C.J. Saraceno, O.H. Heckl, M. Golling, R. Peters, K. Petermann, T. Südmeyer, G. Huber, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. (2010 April 16 submitted)
L. Krainer, R. Paschotta, S. Lecomte, M. Moser, K.J. Weingarten, U. Keller, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 38, 1331 (2002)
A.E.H. Oehler, T. Südmeyer, K.J. Weingarten, U. Keller, Opt. Express 16, 21930 (2008)
A. Oehler, M. Stumpf, S. Pekarek, T. Südmeyer, K. Weingarten, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 99, 53 (2010)
A. Schlatter, B. Rudin, S.C. Zeller, R. Paschotta, G.J. Spühler, L. Krainer, N. Haverkamp, H.R. Telle, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. 30, 1536 (2005)
H.R. Telle, G. Steinmeyer, A.E. Dunlop, J. Stenger, D.H. Sutter, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 69, 327 (1999)
M.C. Stumpf, S. Pekarek, A.E.H. Oehler, T. Südmeyer, J.M. Dudley, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B (2009). doi:10.1007/s00390-009-3854-8
S. Hoogland, S. Dhanjal, A.C. Tropper, S.J. Roberts, R. Häring, R. Paschotta, U. Keller, IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 12, 1135 (2000)
A. Aschwanden, D. Lorenser, H.J. Unold, R. Paschotta, E. Gini, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. 30, 272 (2005)
A.H. Quarterman, K.G. Wilcox, V. Apostolopoulos, Z. Mihoubi, S.P. Elsmere, I. Farrer, D.A. Ritchie, A. Tropper, Nat. Photonics 3, 729 (2009)
D.J.H.C. Maas, A.-R. Bellancourt, B. Rudin, M. Golling, H.J. Unold, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 88, 493 (2007)
A.-R. Bellancourt, D.J.H.C. Maas, B. Rudin, M. Golling, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, IET Optoelectron. 3, 61 (2009)
D.J.H.C. Maas, A.R. Bellancourt, M. Hoffmann, B. Rudin, Y. Barbarin, M. Golling, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, Opt. Express 16, 18646 (2008)
A.-R. Bellancourt, Y. Barbarin, D.J.H.C. Maas, M. Shafiei, M. Hoffmann, M. Golling, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, Opt. Express 17, 9704 (2009)
V.J. Wittwer, B. Rudin, D.J.H.C. Maas, H.D. Hoffmann, O.D. Sieber, Y. Barbarin, M. Golling, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, MIXSEL: an integrated passively modelocked external-cavity semiconductor laser with 6.4 W average power, in 4th EPS-QEOD Europhoton Conference, Hamburg, August 29–September 3, 2010
P. Kreuter, B. Witzigmann, D.J.H.C. Maas, Y. Barbarin, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 91, 257 (2008)
G.J. Spühler, R. Paschotta, R. Fluck, B. Braun, M. Moser, G. Zhang, E. Gini, U. Keller, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16, 376 (1999)
B. Braun, F.X. Kärtner, U. Keller, J.-P. Meyn, G. Huber, Opt. Lett. 21, 405 (1996)
G.J. Spühler, R. Paschotta, M.P. Kullberg, M. Graf, M. Moser, E. Mix, G. Huber, C. Harder, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 72, 285 (2001)
R. Häring, R. Paschotta, R. Fluck, E. Gini, H. Melchior, U. Keller, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 18, 1805 (2001)
A.J. DeMaria, D.A. Stetser, H. Heynau, Appl. Phys. Lett. 8, 174 (1966)
H.A. Haus, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 12, 169 (1976)
D.J. Kuizenga, A.E. Siegman, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 6, 694 (1970)
D.J. Kuizenga, A.E. Siegman, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 6, 709 (1970)
J.D. Kafka, B.H. Kolner, T.M. Baer, D.M. Bloom, Opt. Lett. 9, 505 (1984)
K.J. Weingarten, M.J.W. Rodwell, D.M. Bloom, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 24, 198 (1988)
J.-C. Diels, in Dye lasers principles: with applications, ed. by F.D.A.L. Hillman (Academic Press, Boston, 1990), p. 41
C.V. Shank, in Ultrashort Laser Pulses and Applications, ed. by W. Kaiser (Springer, Heidelberg, 1988), Chap. 2
F.M. Mitschke, L.F. Mollenauer, Opt. Lett. 12, 407 (1987)
M.N. Islam, E.R. Sunderman, C.E. Soccolich, I. Bar-Joseph, N. Sauer, T.Y. Chang, B.I. Miller, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 25, 2454 (1989)
U. Keller, K.D. Li, B.T. Khuri-Yakub, D.M. Bloom, K.J. Weingarten, D.C. Gerstenberger, Opt. Lett. 15, 45 (1990)
K.J. Weingarten, D.C. Shannon, R.W. Wallace, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. 15, 962 (1990)
C. Hönninger, R. Paschotta, F. Morier-Genoud, M. Moser, U. Keller, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16, 46 (1999)
R. Grange, M. Haiml, R. Paschotta, G.J. Spuhler, L. Krainer, M. Golling, O. Ostinelli, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 80, 151 (2005)
L.F. Mollenauer, R.H. Stolen, Opt. Lett. 9, 13 (1984)
P.N. Kean, X. Zhu, D.W. Crust, R.S. Grant, N. Landford, W. Sibbett, Opt. Lett. 14, 39 (1989)
E.P. Ippen, H.A. Haus, L.Y. Liu, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6, 1736 (1989)
K.J. Blow, D. Wood, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 5, 629 (1988)
U. Keller, T.K. Woodward, D.L. Sivco, A.Y. Cho, Opt. Lett. 16, 390 (1991)
U. Keller, W.H. Knox, H. Roskos, Opt. Lett. 15, 1377 (1990)
H.A. Haus, U. Keller, W.H. Knox, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 8, 1252 (1991)
U. Keller, G.W. ’tHooft, W.H. Knox, J.E. Cunningham, Opt. Lett. 16, 1022 (1991)
G.H.C. New, Opt. Commun. 6, 188 (1972)
H.A. Haus, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 11, 323 (1975)
H.A. Haus, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 11, 736 (1975)
H.A. Haus, J. Appl. Phys. 46, 3049 (1975)
N. Sarukura, Y. Ishida, H. Nakano, Opt. Lett. 16, 153 (1991)
Y. Ishida, N. Sarukura, H. Nakano, in Ultrafast Phenomena (OSA, Washington, 1990), PD11
D.E. Spence, P.N. Kean, W. Sibbett, in Conference on Lasers and Electro-optics (CLEO) (OSA/IEEE LEOS, Washington, 1990), CPDP10
R.L. Fork, B.I. Greene, C.V. Shank, Appl. Phys. Lett. 38, 617 (1981)
G.H.C. New, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 10, 115 (1974)
U. Keller, W.H. Knox, G.W. ’tHooft, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 28, 2123 (1992)
H.A. Haus, J.G. Fujimoto, E.P. Ippen, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 28, 2086 (1992)
R. Paschotta, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 73, 653 (2001)
F.X. Kärtner, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. 20, 16 (1995)
I.D. Jung, F.X. Kärtner, L.R. Brovelli, M. Kamp, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. 20, 1892 (1995)
F.X. Kärtner, I.D. Jung, U. Keller, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 2, 540 (1996)
U. Keller, T.H. Chiu, J.F. Ferguson, Opt. Lett. 18, 1077 (1993)
D. Kopf, F. Kärtner, K.J. Weingarten, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. 19, 2146 (1994)
F.X. Kärtner, D. Kopf, U. Keller, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 12, 486 (1995)
O.E. Martinez, R.L. Fork, J.P. Gordon, Opt. Lett. 9, 156 (1984)
J.A. Valdmanis, R.L. Fork, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 22, 112 (1986)
G. Cerullo, S. De Silvestri, V. Magni, L. Pallaro, Opt. Lett. 19, 807 (1994)
G. Cerullo, S. De Silvestri, V. Magni, Opt. Lett. 19, 1040 (1994)
D.K. Negus, L. Spinelli, N. Goldblatt, G. Feugnet, in Advanced Solid-State Lasers, ed. by G. Dubé, L. Chase (Optical Society of America, Washington, 1991), p. 120
F. Salin, J. Squier, M. Piché, Opt. Lett. 16, 1674 (1991)
L.R. Brovelli, U. Keller, T.H. Chiu, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 12, 311 (1995)
G.J. Spühler, K.J. Weingarten, R. Grange, L. Krainer, M. Haiml, V. Liverini, M. Golling, S. Schon, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 81, 27 (2005)
U. Keller, T.H. Chiu, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 28, 1710 (1992)
L.R. Brovelli, I.D. Jung, D. Kopf, M. Kamp, M. Moser, F.X. Kärtner, U. Keller, Electron. Lett. 31, 287 (1995)
I.D. Jung, L.R. Brovelli, M. Kamp, U. Keller, M. Moser, Opt. Lett. 20, 1559 (1995)
V. Liverini, S. Schön, R. Grange, M. Haiml, S.C. Zeller, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 4002 (2004)
U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 58, 347 (1994)
D. Kopf, G. Zhang, R. Fluck, M. Moser, U. Keller, Opt. Lett. 21, 486 (1996)
C.J. Saraceno, C. Schriber, M. Mangold, M. Hoffmann, O.H. Heckl, C.R.E. Baer, M. Golling, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, Low-loss, high-damage threshold SESAMs for high pulse energy oscillators, in Europhoton Conference 2010, Hamburg, Germany, 2010
S. Tsuda, W.H. Knox, Souza, E.A.d., Jan, W.Y., Cunningham, J.E., Opt. Lett. 20, 1406 (1995)
J.L. Hall, T.W. Hänsch, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/2005.html (2005)
S.A. Diddams, D.J. Jones, J. Ye, S. Cundiff, J.L. Hall, J.K. Ranka, R.S. Windeler, R. Holzwarth, T. Udem, T.W. Hänsch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5102 (2000)
J. Stenger, T. Binnewies, G. Wilpers, F. Riehle, H.R. Telle, J.K. Ranka, R.S. Windeler, A.J. Stentz, Phys. Rev. A 63, 021802 (2001)
R. Holzwarth, T. Udem, T.W. Hänsch, J.C. Knight, W.J. Wadsworth, P.S.J. Russell, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2264 (2000)
T. Udem, R. Holzwarth, T.W. Hänsch, Nature 416, 233 (2002)
J. Ye, S.T. Cundiff, Femtosecond Optical Frequency Comb: Principle, Operation, and Applications (Springer, New York, 2005), p. 10013
T.W. Hänsch, Rev. Mod. Phys. 78, 1297 (2006)
G. Steinmeyer, D.H. Sutter, L. Gallmann, N. Matuschek, U. Keller, Science 286, 1507 (1999)
D.J. Jones, S.A. Diddams, J.K. Ranka, A. Stentz, R.S. Windeler, J.L. Hall, S.T. Cundiff, Science 288, 635 (2000)
M.J.W. Rodwell, K.J. Weingarten, D.M. Bloom, T. Baer, B.H. Kolner, Opt. Lett. 11, 638 (1986)
M.J.W. Rodwell, D.M. Bloom, K.J. Weingarten, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 25, 817 (1989)
A.S. Gouveia-Neto, A.S.L. Gomes, J.R. Taylor, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 24, 332 (1988)
J.D. Kafka, T. Baer, Opt. Lett. 12, 181 (1987)
U. Keller, K.D. Li, M.J.W. Rodwell, D.M. Bloom, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 25, 280 (1989)
A.E. Siegman, Lasers (University Science Books, Mill Valley, 1986)
J.L. Hall, T.W. Hänsch, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2005/press.html (2005)
F.W. Helbing, G. Steinmeyer, U. Keller, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 9, 1030 (2003)
T. Südmeyer, C. Kränkel, C.R.E. Baer, O.H. Heckl, C.J. Saraceno, M. Golling, R. Peters, K. Petermann, G. Huber, U. Keller, Appl. Phys. B 97, 281 (2009)
U. Keller, IEEE Photonics J. 2, 225 (2010)
S. Yamazoe, M. Katou, T. Adachi, T. Kasamatsu, Opt. Lett. 35, 748 (2010)
S. Pekarek, C. Fiebig, M.C. Stumpf, A.E.H. Oehler, K. Paschke, G. Erbert, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 2010, paper CThI1
S. Hoogland, A. Garnache, I. Sagnes, J.S. Roberts, A.C. Tropper, IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 17, 267 (2005)
K.G. Wilcox, Z. Mihoubi, G.J. Daniell, S. Elsmere, A. Quarterman, I. Farrer, D.A. Ritchie, A. Tropper, Opt. Lett. 33, 2797 (2008)
E.U. Rafailov, S.J. White, A.A. Lagatsky, A. Miller, W. Sibbett, D.A. Livshits, A.E. Zhukov, V.M. Ustinov, IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 16, 2439 (2004)
D.J.H.C. Maas, M. Hoffmann, A.R. Bellancourt, B. Rudin, Y. Barbarin, M. Golling, T. Südmeyer, U. Keller, in Advanced Solid-State Photonics (ASSP), 2009
S. Koke, C. Grebing, H. Frei, A. Anderson, A. Assion, G. Steinmeyer, Nat. Photonics (2010). doi:10.1038/NPHOTON.2010.91
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Keller, U. Ultrafast solid-state laser oscillators: a success story for the last 20 years with no end in sight. Appl. Phys. B 100, 15–28 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-010-4045-3
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-010-4045-3