High-energy, kHz-repetition-rate, ps cryogenic Yb:YAG chirped-pulse amplifier

Hong, Kyung-Han; Gopinath, Juliet T.; Rand, Darren; Siddiqui, Aleem; Huang, Shu‐Wei; Li, Enbang; Eggleton, Benjamin J.; Hybl, John D.; Fan, T. Y.; Kärtner, Franz X.

doi:10.1364/ol.35.001752

Cited by 77 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Significant improvement of the emission cross section and the thermal conductivity can be observed at cryogenic temperatures in most Ybdoped crystals. 40 mJ output energy was obtained using a cryogenic Yb:YAG double-pass amplifier [7]. However, stronger spectral narrowing at low temperatures induces longer optical pulses of several picoseconds.…”

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confidence: 99%

Yb:YAG single crystal fiber power amplifier for femtosecond sources

et al. 2013

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We demonstrate a versatile femtosecond power amplifier using a Yb:YAG single crystal fiber operating from 10 kHz to 10 MHz. For a total pump power of 75 W, up to 30 W is generated from the double-pass power amplifier. At a repetition rate of 10 kHz, an output energy of 1 mJ is obtained after recompression. In this configuration, the pulse duration is 380 fs, corresponding to a peak power of 2.2 GW. The M 2 beam quality factor is better than 1.1 for investigated parameters. © 2013 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 320.7090, 140.3615.Ultrafast lasers are now a common tool for scientific and industrial applications. Over the past decade, many technological developments of diode-pumped solid-state laser systems have allowed tremendous improvements of their performance, reliability, and cost. In order to achieve high energy per pulse in the femtosecond regime, master oscillator power amplifier systems are commonly used. Regenerative amplifiers based on bulk or thin disk Yb-doped crystals can amplify ultrashort pulses to several tens of millijoules [1,2]. They can provide high gain and high output energy at a low repetition rate, but they are limited in terms of repetition rate to a few hundreds of kilohertz due to the high-voltage-driven switch speed. Ytterbium-doped optical fibers can also be used to amplify ultrashort pulses. Their high surface-to-volume ratio provides good thermal management and allows attainment of high average powers of several hundreds of watts [3]. However, the signal confinement in smallcross-section cores induces nonlinear effects, such as self-phase modulation and self-focusing, which limit the peak power and the pulse energy. Femtosecond pulses with an energy of 2.2 mJ were obtained using the well-known chirped pulse amplification technique together with large-core-diameter photonic crystal fibers [4]. Another approach consists in amplifying femtosecond pulses directly in Yb-doped crystals using multipass amplifiers without active elements. Although it requires quite complex systems, the slab geometry has proven to be a very successful approach. Up to 1.1 kW [5] average power and 20 mJ [6] energy were obtained with an Yb:YAG Innoslab amplifier. Significant improvement of the emission cross section and the thermal conductivity can be observed at cryogenic temperatures in most Ybdoped crystals. 40 mJ output energy was obtained using a cryogenic Yb:YAG double-pass amplifier [7]. However, stronger spectral narrowing at low temperatures induces longer optical pulses of several picoseconds. Finally, the single crystal fiber (SCF) concept lies between fibers and crystals and can contribute to original performance for femtosecond systems. SCFs are long, thin crystal rods with a diameter lower than 1 mm and a typical length of a few centimeters.

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confidence: 99%

Yb:YAG single crystal fiber power amplifier for femtosecond sources

et al. 2013

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“…2 -right), in good agreement with our numerical simulations. Notice that a comparable amplifier featuring a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG gain medium showed a reduction of the seed spectrum down to 0.24 nm spectral width, supporting a ~6.5 ps duration (assuming a Gaussian temporal profile) [9]. The spatial profile of the amplified beam was recorded and shows a Gaussian distribution in the near field (Fig.…”

Section: Laser Performancesmentioning

confidence: 67%

Addressing Spectral Narrowing in Cryogenic Yb:YAG: a 10 mJ Cryogenic Yb:YLF Regenerative Amplifier

Hemmer

Zapata

Hua

et al. 2016

Lasers Congress 2016 (ASSL, LSC, LAC)

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“…Heat flows parallel to the beam towards the backplane minimizing thermo-optic as well as thermo-mechanical distortions. Cryogenic operation results in additional performance leverage as has been demonstrated, for example [4,5].…”

Section: The Monolithic Array Of Gain Cells For Scalingmentioning

confidence: 92%