Ajanta Barh

Gigahertz modelocked lasers operating in the crucial 2–3 µm spectral range are highly sought after for numerous applications. However, they currently rely on bulky and expensive fiber amplifiers for pumping. This paper presents the first, to our knowledge, diode-pumped gigahertz modelocked laser operating at 2.36 µm, utilizing Cr:ZnS as the gain medium and an InGaSb SESAM as the saturable absorber.

NEWS AND VIEWS 26 June 2024 Lasers are essential in scientific laboratories and medical clinics across the globe, but integrating them into other technologies is not easy. A material platform that puts a standard laser on a microchip offers a solution. Technologies that take advantage of the speed of light can make vast improvements to conventional electronics. One example is fibre-optic communication, which can now transfer millions of gigabytes of data in a single second1.

Abstract In this Letter, a novel technique for independent control of the phase-matched center wavelength and bandwidth (BW) is demonstrated for upconversion detection in the 2–4 μm range using a fanout lithium niobate (LN) crystal. A compact, all-semiconductor, 975 nm laser delivering 3.5 W of power is used as the pump in a single-pass upconversion configuration. A globar (∼800°C) is used as the infrared test source.