| abstract |
A laser device ( 100 ), being configured for generating laser pulses by Ken lens based mode locking, comprises a laser resonator ( 10 ) with a plurality of resonator mirrors ( 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 ) spanning a resonator beam path ( 12 ), a solid state gain medium ( 20 ) being arranged in the laser resonator ( 10 ), a Kerr medium device ( 30 ) being arranged with a distance from the gain medium ( 20 ) in the laser resonator ( 10 ), wherein the Kerr medium device ( 30 ) includes at least one Ken medium being arranged in a focal range of the resonator beam path and being configured for forming the laser pulses by the nonlinear Kerr effect, and a loss-modulation device ( 31, 32 ) having a modulator medium, which is capable of modulating a power loss of the laser pulses generated in the laser resonator ( 10 ), wherein the Kerr medium device ( 30 ) includes the modulator medium of the loss-modulation device ( 31, 32 ) as the at least one Kerr medium having an optical non-linearity being adapted for both of creating the Kerr lens based mode-locking in the laser resonator and modulating the power loss in the laser resonator. Furthermore, a method of generating laser pulses by Kerr lens based mode locking is described, wherein a loss-modulation device ( 31, 32 ) is used for both of introducing a Ken effect in the laser resonator ( 10 ) and modulating the power loss. |