High pulse energy passive mode locking of inverse bow-tie 975nm laser diode in external cavity

Motivation and objectives: The technology of Mode-Locked Semi-Conductor Lasers (MLSCL) is a promising candidate for various space applications in the context of high-precision optical metrology, in particular for High Accuracy Absolute Long Distance Measurement (HAALDM). However very challenging performance requirements should be met for these applications: pulse duration<;1ps, pulse repetition frequency (pRF) of 1-3GHz, PRF stability <; 5.10
^-9
, PRF tunability > 20MHz, average optical output power > 200mW, pulse energy > 200pJ, high spatial beam quality (M
²
<;2.5) in addition to the space application requirements on launch vibrations, volume, weight, power consumption and efficiency. We have realized two types of mode-locked (ML) multiple section edge emitting lasers to address these challenging targets: (1) very long (13.5mm) monolithic tapered laser which is reported in [1], and (2) inverse bow-tie external cavity (EC) laser which is the subject of present communication. Both lasers are designed using the model from [2] and operate without an amplifying stage.