The performance of a continuous wave actively mode‐locked Nd: phosphate glass laser longitudinally pumped by a multistripe diode laser is described. The laser operates at 1.054 &mgr;m; the pump threshold and the slope efficiency are found to be 120 mW and 11%, respectively. The shortest pulse duration is 7 ps, which appears to be approximately twice as short as predicted by the theory of amplitude modulation mode locking. We explain the improved performance by additional frequency modulation due to the nonlinear index of the active material.