5. Glossary

Fast/slow saturable absorber

Saturable absorber material characterized by a return time of the system to the ground state following optical excitation that is shorter/longer than the laser pulse used for this excitation.

Bandgap (forbidden band)

Energy leap between bottom of conduction band and top of valence band in semiconductors and dielectrics.

Additive mode locking (APM)

Non-linear phase shift induced in an optical element placed in a coupled cavity.

Mode locking by Kerr effect (KLM)

Based on the 3rd-order non-linearity of the gain medium and the resulting time-dependent lens effect.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy...