Generation of 1.8-W Average Power From a Diode-Pumped Femtosecond Rotary Nd:Glass Disk Laser

We demonstrate 1.8 W of average output power with 350 fs of pulse duration from a diode-pumped mode-locked rotary Nd:glass disk laser. In this laser with rotating Nd:glass disk structure, we use a Nd:glass disk with a diameter of 50 mm, which disperses heat to a wide area, to extend the upper limit of pumping power of Nd:glass for high output average power. We achieve passively soliton mode-locking for obtaining femtosecond pulses based on a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. To our best knowledge, this is the highest average power reported from a diode-pumped femtosecond Nd:glass laser oscillator. The results are significant for power scaling of femtosecond Nd:glass lasers.