High-Energy Mode-Locked Pulses from a Photonic Integrated Mamyshev Oscillator

Mode-locked lasers (MLLs), capable of generating ultrashort coherent pulses, have been instrumental for numerous applications, including optical frequency metrology, eye surgery, machining, additive manufacturing, imaging and spectroscopy. However, commercial table-top MLLs composed of discrete components remain bulky and costly, prompting ongoing efforts toward miniaturization. Yet, existing photonic integrated chip-scale MLLs based on semiconductor saturable absorbers [1] and actively mode-locked lasers [2] are limited in peak power, pulse energy, spectral width, and coherence. To date, the performance are far from fiber or solid-state mode-locked lasers.