Fiber laser pumped Yb:CaF2 regenerative amplifier delivering 130 fs pulses with 4.3 W output power

High repetition rate femtosecond lasers able to deliver pulse energies ranging from few hundred microjoules to the millijoule level is a very active and competitive field in laser research. In laser bulk technology, major improvements toward high average power were (i) the reduction of the pump heat...

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Published in2017 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC) p. 1
Main Authors Sevillano, P., Camy, P., Doualan, J. L., Moncorge, R., Descamps, D., Cormier, E.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.06.2017
Subjects
Bandwidth
Crystals
Laser excitation
Optical fiber amplifiers
Pump lasers
Semiconductor lasers
Ultrafast optics
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Summary:High repetition rate femtosecond lasers able to deliver pulse energies ranging from few hundred microjoules to the millijoule level is a very active and competitive field in laser research. In laser bulk technology, major improvements toward high average power were (i) the reduction of the pump heat load through Yb-doped crystals development and (ii) the availability of low cost and bright diode-laser pump sources. Nodaways, Yb:YAG laser sources provide few hundreds of watts at multi-kHz repetition rates in thin disk or slab amplifier configurations with pulse duration close to the picosecond level due to the restricted gain bandwidth of Yb:YAG. Shortening the pulse duration of high average power laser, without the help of self-phase modulation process inside or outside the amplifier, requires Yb-doped crystal hosts associating broad gain bandwidth and good thermal conductivity. So far, Yb-doped regenerative amplifiers delivering multi-watt at multi-kHz repetition rate provide pulse duration close to 300 fs in Yb:CALGO and 200 fs in Yb:CaF 2 at cryogenic temperature. In this work, we report on the first 130 fs room temperature Yb:CaF 2 chirped pulse regenerative amplifier delivering an average power exceeding 4.3 watts when the laser system operates from 5 kHz to 50 kHz. By means of an Yb-doped fiber pump source, a long Yb:CaF 2 crystal with low doping concentration has been used to increase the heat load volume and therefore reduce the amplifier temperature while maintaining high optical efficiency and broad effective bandwidth emission.
DOI:10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2017.8086287