Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Yb:LPS laser

A diode-pumped passively mode-locked Yb:Lu₂Si₂O₇ (Yb:LPS) laser is firstly demonstrated. Using a commercial SESAM as the mode-locker, stable mode locked pulses with femtosecond pulse duration at the wavelength of 1058nm are obtained. The shortest pulse achieved is about 96fs. We found that the Yb:LPS crystal could have small normal group velocity dispersion near the mode locking wavelength and a large nonlinear optical Kerr-coefficient.