Diode-Pumped Passively Mode-Locked 1079nm Nd:CaGdAlO$_{4}$ Laser

We demonstrate a diode-pumped passively cw mode-locked Nd:CaGdAlO4 laser operating at 1079nm with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The threshold pump power of the laser is 180mW. A maximum average output power of 93mW is obtained under the pump power of 1.94 W. The pulse duration of the mode-locked pulses is 3.1 ps and the repetition rate is 157 MHz.