Autosetting Mode-locked Laser with Genetic Algorithm Optimization and Advanced Intracavity Controls

Most commercially available mode-locked lasers provide a single on-off pulse regime to the end user, whereas it would be advantageous to augment the pulse tuning possibilities in many applications, from micromachining to wavelength conversion. One way to increase the degrees of freedom of laser pulses is to incorporate within the cavity a saturable absorber with adjustable parameters, such as with the nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) scheme. The lack of analytic relationship between the cavity parameters and the pulse features can be circumvented by the use of evolutionary algorithms, well-suited to the multi-objective optimization of complex functions [1] .