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Abstract: During mode-locked ultrafast laser experiments, we find that semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) from the same manufacturing process may, from batch to batch, show different working ranges: pure Q-switching, Q-switched mode-locking, and continuous wave (CW) mode-locking. This is because, in high-volume wafer-scale fabrication, there is typically an estimated 1% error for high-quality molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth, which introduces a variation in the parameters of an individual SESAM. In this paper, we will analyze how that 1% error in layer thickness influences the behaviour of SESAMs in three different structures: resonant SESAM, anti-resonant SESAM, and enhanced SESAM. Furthermore, the characteristics of the SESAM will affect the mode-locking dynamic behavior of ultrafast solid state lasers. In the worst case, a SESAM with a fabrication error may prevent the laser cavity from mode-locking. Proper laser cavity design can help to reduce the impact of SESAM fabrication errors on laser performance and maintain the laser in the CW mode-locking range.

SESAM was one of the most important attractive inventions and key component on generating ultrafast pulses, however people have been focusing on how to design, improve and optimize the SESAM to meet its application in both bulk crystals and fiber based mode-locking, few people work on the fabrication errors of SESAM that may affect the mode-locking falling into one of the categories: Q-Switching or Q-Switching mode-locking. Theoretically the authors simulate all parameters of three types of SESAM structures with thickness errors, and raise a criteria in cavity design to tolerate the manufacturing error impact.

可饱和吸收镜制造误差及其对飞秒激光器腔型设计的影响

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