Recent progress in high power ultrafast MIXSELs

The modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL) is the most compact technology of ultrafast semiconductor disk laser, combining in the same epitaxial structure an active region and a saturable absorber for stable and self-starting passive modelocking in a linear straight cavity. Here we present the first MIXSEL structure able to produce sub-300-fs pulses at an average output power of 235 mW and 3.35 GHz pulse repetition rate, resulting in a record-high peak power of 240 W. At 10 GHz repetition rate the same MIXSEL generated 279-fs pulses with 310 mW of average output power. An optimized antireflection coating for dispersion minimization together with a reduced field enhancement inside the structure enabled the sensible improvement and the record performances of this novel MIXSEL. Furthermore, thanks to the development of suitable saturable absorbers with fast recovery dynamics and low saturation fluence, we demonstrate the first entirely MOVPE-grown MIXSEL.