High peak-power picosecond pulse generation at 1.26 μm using a quantum-dot-based externalcavity mode-locked laser and tapered optical amplifier

In this paper, we present the generation of high peak-power picosecond optical pulses in the 1.26 μm spectral band from a repetitionrate- tunable quantum-dot external-cavity passively mode-locked laser (QDECMLL), amplified by a tapered quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifier (QD-SOA). The laser emission wavelength was controlled through a chirped volume Bragg grating which was used as an external cavity output coupler. An average power of 208.2 mW, pulse energy of 321 pJ, and peak power of 30.3 W were achieved. Preliminary nonlinear imaging investigations indicate that this system is promising as a high peakpower pulsed light source for nonlinear bio-imaging applications across the 1.0 μm - 1.3 μm spectral range. © 2012 Optical Society of America.