Femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser with mode locking initiated by a quantum-well saturable absorber

We studied a mode-locked Cr:forsterite laser pumped by a diode pumped Nd:YVO/sub 4/ laser. Both the Kerr lens mode locking and the semiconductor saturable absorber initiated mode locking have been demonstrated. Using our measured dispersion data of the forsterite crystal, together with our dispersion compensation technique, we obtained 20-fs pulses for the pure Kerr lens mode locking and 36-fs pulses for semiconductor saturable absorber initiated mode locking, respectively.