Femtosecond Alexandrite Laser with InP/InGaP Quantum-Dot Saturable Absorber

A semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) passively mode-locked Alexandrite laser was demonstrated. Using an InP/InGaP quantum-dot saturable absorber mirror, pulse duration of 380 fs at 775 nm was obtained. The laser was pumped at 532 nm and generated 295 mW of average output power in mode-locked regime with a pump power of 7.3 W. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a passively mode-locked Alexandrite laser using SESAM in general and quantum-dot SESAM in particular.