Diode-pumped femtosecond Tm3+-doped LuScO3 laser near 2.1  μm

We report on the first demonstration, to the best of our knowledge, of a diode-pumped Tm:LuScO3 laser. Efficient and broadly tunable continuous wave operation in the 1973–2141 nm region and femtosecond mode-locking through the use of an ion-implanted InGaAsSb quantum-well-based semiconductor saturable absorber mirror are realized. When mode-locked, near-transform-limited pulses as short as 170 fs were generated at 2093 nm with an average output power of 113 mW and a pulse repetition frequency of 115.2 MHz. Tunable picosecond pulse generation was demonstrated in the 2074–2104 nm spectral range.