Actively mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser

An experimental investigation was made of a Ti:sapphire laser with active mode locking. The dependences of the duration of the output pulses, of their amplitude, and of their profile on the deviation of the cavity length from its optimal value, on the depth of loss modulation, and on the intracavity filter characteristics were determined. The stability of the laser parameters was measured and a comparison was made with self-starting mode locking based on the Kerr nonlinearity. The dependence of the position of a pulse in the ‘transmission window of the mode locker’ on the control parameters of the laser was obtained for the first time.