Hybrid high-energy high-power pulsewidth-tunable picosecond source

Abstract

A hybrid ytterbium-doped fiber-bulk laser source allowing the generation of 3 ps, 350 μJ, 116 MW peak power Fourier transform-limited pulses at 50 kHz repetition rate and 1030 nm wavelength is described. Pulse duration tunability is provided by an adjustable spectral compression-based seeder system. Energy scaling capabilities of the architecture by use of the divided-pulse amplification method are investigated. This source provides a robust, compact, and versatile solution for applications such as RF photocathode guns, x- and γ-ray generation by inverse Compton scattering, and optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification pumping.

Yb:YAG single-crystal fiber amplifiers for picosecond lasers using the divided pulse amplification technique

“…In this case, the main part of the nonlinear effects is clearly located at the end of the amplification medium. We note that while our power amplifier operates well above the critical power for self-focusing, no damage is incurred since the beam size is large enough that the self-focusing critical length exceeds the length of the gain crystal [11].…”

Spectral compression in a multipass cell

“…This gap in pulse energy could in principle be filled by use of gas-filled Kagome or anti-resonant microstructured hollow-core fibers, but no demonstration was reported. An alternative technique for energy scaling is possible using hybrid architectures, where nonlinearities are distributed over fiber and bulk amplifiers [10]. A few experiments [11,12] have also reported the observation of spectral compression in bulk media for pulses with much higher energies (mJ level), with moderate spectral compression factors.…”

High energy Yb:YAG active mirror laser system for transform limited pulses bridging the picosecond gap

“…High average‐power Nd:YVO 4 oscillators and amplifiers generate pulses with a duration of multiple 10 ps depending on the spectral width of the gain material , but mostly lacking transform limitation. Recently, a sub‐20 ps MOPA (Master Oscillator Power Amplifier) system was presented where spectral compression and pulse‐width tunability was induced by self‐phase modulation (SPM) at a negative pre‐chirp in an optical fiber . However, spectral sculpting by SPM usually leads to further side‐bands and energy sensitivity.…”