cw passive mode locking of a Ti:sapphire laser

Abstract
Cw passive mode locking of a Ti:sapphire laser is achieved with 1,1′-dietyl-2,2′-dicarbocyanine iodide as the saturable absorber dye, using a 5 μm thin dye jet flow. The pulse width is 4.0 ps, which is almost the transform-limited pulse for the observed spectrum width. The output power is ∼50 mW, when it is pumped by a 5 W cw Ar laser, while the tuning range is 745–755 nm.