Ultrashort pulse generation with semiconductor lasers using intracavity phase- and amplitude pulse shaping

We present intra-cavity pulse shaping of external cavity mode-locked semiconductor lasers. In our approach, a pulse shaper utilizing a dual LC-panel spatial light modulator is used in the cavity of a mode-locked multi-quantum-well semiconductor laser to introduce spectrally resolved phase manipulation and losses to the pulse propagating in the cavity. Utilizing this, we generate pulses with broader spectra than obtained in conventional external cavity geometries without pulse shaping. The pulses can be compressed near to the transform limit using a grating compressor.