A laser device for laser resonance ionization includes a wavelength variable grating-type titanium-doped sapphire laser and includes a titanium (Ti) doped titanium sapphire crystal disposed within a resonator. The titanium sapphire crystal is fixedly disposed on a stage. The titanium-doped sapphire crystal can be moved in the optical axis direction by the stage, thereby changing the position of the titanium-doped sapphire crystal. The switching between the wideband mode and the high-output mode can be performed by changing the position of the titanium-doped sapphire crystal.

A folded slab waveguide laser having a hybrid waveguide-unstable resonator cavity. Multiple slab waveguides of thickness t supporting vertical waveguide modes are physically arranged above one another in a stack and optically arranged in series through one or more cavity folding assemblies with curved mirrors. A gain medium such as a gas is arranged in each slab. Each cavity folding assembly is designed to redirect the radiation beam emitted from one slab waveguide into the next waveguide and also at the same time to provide a focus for the radiation beam so that a selected vertical waveguide mode (or modes) is (or are) coupled efficiently into the next slab.

A femtosecond laser system for ophthalmic applications, which employs a number of chirped mirrors in the laser beam delivery system between the laser head and the objective lens. The chirped mirrors perform the dual function of both turning the laser beam in desired directions and compensating for beam broadening due to group delay dispersion (GDD) of the optical elements of the system. Each chirped mirror reflects the laser beam only once. Four chirped mirrors are used, each providing up to 5000 fs.sup.2 of negative GDD per bounce, to provide a total of 18,000 fs.sup.2 negative GDD to compensate for the positive GDD of +18,000 fs.sup.2 introduced by other optical elements in the laser beam delivery system. This eliminates the need for a pulse compressor that would employ a grating pair, prism pair or grism pair, and therefore significantly reduces the size of the system and the alignment requirements.

A pulse laser apparatus (100) for creating laser pulses (1), in particular soliton laser pulses (1), based on Kerr lens mode locking of a circulating light field in an oscillator cavity (10), comprises at least two resonator mirrors (11, 12, . . . ) spanning a resonator beam path (2) of the oscillator cavity (10), at least one Kerr-medium (21, 22, 23) for introducing self-phase modulation and self-focusing to the circulating light field in the oscillator cavity (10), at least one gain-medium (31) for amplifying the circulating light field in the oscillator cavity (10), and a tuning device (40) for setting a first mode-locking condition and a second mode-locking condition of the oscillator cavity (10) such that an intra-cavity threshold-power for mode-locking at the first mode-locking condition is lower than that at the second mode-locking condition, wherein the first mode-locking condition is adapted for starting or shutting-down of the Kerr lens mode locking and the second mode-locking condition is adapted for continuous Kerr lens mode locking and a resonator-internal peak-power of the circulating light field is higher at the second mode-locking condition than at the first mode-locking condition. Furthermore, a method of operating a pulse laser apparatus is described.

External cavity laser systems are described that can operate with essentially no mode hopping. One example configuration of the laser system includes a semiconductor laser device, a folded cavity external to the semiconductor laser device, where at the semiconductor laser device is positioned at a fold in the folded cavity. In this configuration, at least one mirror is positioned in the folded cavity to enable sustained propagation of light within the folded cavity, and at least two polarization elements are positioned in the folded external cavity. The polarization elements cause a polarization state of the light that impinges in different directions on each semiconductor laser device that is positioned at a fold to be orthogonal to one another, thus eliminating or substantially reducing mode hopping in the laser output.

Disclosed is a laser system that incudes a chirped fiber oscillator, a laser amplifier, and a compressor. The laser amplifier includes a laser Faraday isolator. The fiber oscillator output is directly coupled to the laser Faraday isolator.

Disclosed is a laser system that includes a femtosecond oscillator, a regenerative amplifier for chirped pulse amplification of femtosecond laser pulses, and a compressor. The regenerative amplifier includes a plurality of positive Group Delay Dispersion (GDD) mirrors disposed within a cavity of the regenerative amplifier. The compressor receives amplified laser pulses from the regenerative amplifier.

Disclosed is a system and a method for generating high-power laser pulses with very high repetition rate. The laser system includes an oscillator capable of generating a source laser beam including a series of sources pulses with femtosecond or picosecond duration at a first repetition frequency no lower than 800 megahertz and an optical amplifier system suitable for receiving and amplifying the series of source pulses at a second repetition frequency that is equal to or a multiple of the first repetition frequency, the multiple being a non-negative integer greater than or equal to two, so as to generate a series of laser pulses with very high repetition frequency.

A folded slab waveguide laser having a hybrid waveguide-unstable resonator cavity. Multiple slab waveguides of thickness t supporting vertical waveguide modes are physically arranged above one another in a stack and optically arranged in series through one or more cavity folding assemblies with curved mirrors. A gain medium such as a gas is arranged in each slab. Each cavity folding assembly is designed to redirect the radiation beam emitted from one slab waveguide into the next waveguide and also at the same time to provide a focus for the radiation beam so that a selected vertical waveguide mode (or modes) is (or are) coupled efficiently into the next slab.

A laser system involving coupled distributed resonators disposed serially, with the lasing gain medium located in the main resonator and the output of that resonator being directed into a free space resonator, such that the main resonator output mirror is effectively the free space resonator. The distributed resonators end mirrors are retroreflectors. Interference occurs between light traveling towards the remote mirror of the free space resonator and light reflected therefrom, generating regions of high reflectivity. The coupling of the free space resonator to the regions of high reflectivity of the free space resonator enables the first resonator to lase efficiently, even though the true reflectivity of the main resonator output mirror outside of those regions is insufficient to enable efficient lasing, if at all. This coupled resonator structure enables lasing to occur with a high field of view and the high gain engendered by the high reflectivity regions.