Single-frequency Ti:Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ ring laser

Over 500 mW of single-frequency power has been obtained from a Ti:Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ ring laser pumped by 10 W (all lines) from an argon ion laser. The ring laser can be tuned from 750 to 850 nm while maintaining more than 100 mW in single-frequency operation without realignment or a change of optics. The free-running frequency stability of the laser is 3 MHz. Thermal effects cause changes in the ring cavity parameters, limiting the output power. This ring laser has also been operated with an acoustooptic mode locker to obtain 200-ps mode-locked pulses at 250 MHz with nearly the same average power as in single-mode operation.<
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