Mode-locked operation of a diode-pumped, external-cavity GaAs/AlGaAs surface emitting laser

Summary form only given. Optically-pumped, external-cavity, surface-emitting semiconductor lasers show great potential for overcoming a number of limitations in conventional semiconductor laser sources. Such devices offer wavelength flexibility, reduced criticality of design, are largely free of post growth processing, and in principle offer power scaling in a circularly-symmetric transverse mode to 0.1-1.0 W output levels. Furthermore, various optical elements can be introduced into the external cavity to control the nature of the laser output to give, for example, tunable single frequency or mode-locked operation. Here, we report on a diode-pumped GaAs/AlGaAs external-cavity surface emitting laser, concentrating particularly on power scaling and mode-locked performance.