Application of glasses doped with PbS nanocrystals for passive mode locking in Nd/sup 3+/:YAG lasers

Glasses doped by semiconductor nanocrystals shows reversible absorption bleaching and their absorption may be relatively easily adjusted to the laser wavelength. We report stable mode-locking of Nd:YAG laser with PbS-doped glass as a saturable absorber. To ensure reliable short pulse generation hybrid mode-locking was utilised. The passive mode-locking was combined with active resonator quality modulation by electro-optical modulator.