Self-referenceable frequency comb from an ultrafast thin disk laser

Abstract

Abstract:We present the first measurement of the carrier envelope offset (CEO) frequency of an ultrafast thin disk laser (TDL). The TDL used for this proof-of-principle experiment was based on the gain material Yb:Lu 2 O 3 and delivered 7 W of average power in 142-fs pulses, which is more than two times shorter than previously realized with this material. Using only 65 mW of the output of the laser, we generated a coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum (SC) in a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF). We detected the CEO beat signal using a standard f-to-2f interferometer, achieving a signal-to-noise ratio of >25 dB (3 kHz resolution bandwidth). The CEO frequency was tunable with the pump current with a slope of 33 kHz/mA. This result opens the door towards high-power frequency combs from unamplified oscillators. Furthermore, it confirms the suitability of these sources for future intralaser extreme nonlinear optics experiments such as high harmonic generation and VUV frequency comb generation from compact sources. 435-453 (1996). 16-18 (1995). 33. R. Paschotta and U. Keller, "Passive mode locking with slow saturable absorbers," Appl. Phys. B 73(7), 653-662 (2001). 34. C. R. E. Baer, O. H. Heckl, C. J. Saraceno, C. Schriber, C. Kränkel, T. Südmeyer, and U. Keller, "Frontiers in passively mode-locked high-power thin disk laser oscillators," Opt. Express 20(7), 7054-7065 (2012). 35. V. Magni, "Multielement stable resonators containing a variable lens," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 4(10), 1962-1969 (1987). 36. C. Hönninger, R. Paschotta, F. Morier-Genoud, M. Moser, and U. Keller, "Q-switching stability limits of continuous-wave passive mode locking," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16(1), 46-56 (1999

Cutting-Edge High-Power Ultrafast Thin Disk Oscillators

“…Subsequent power scaling led to the demonstration of an average output power of 141 W in 738 fs long pulses [26], which was, for many years, the highest output power reported from a modelocked oscillator demonstrating the large potential of this material for high-power operation. The full potential of Yb:LuO for short pulse generation in the thin-disk geometry was not exploited until the recent demonstration of 142 fs at an average power of 7 W [22]. In this result, a large fraction (≈70%) of the emission bandwidth of the laser material was exploited (Figure 17), confirming the potential of this material also for short pulse generation.…”

“…This already opens the door to nonlinear optics experiments driven inside a thin disk oscillator [22]. This is a promising new approach that is currently being investigated.…”

“…However, preliminary power scaling experiments indicate that much higher output powers are within reach. Furthermore, the intracavity peak power levels achieved are already high enough for preliminary intralaser nonlinear optics experiments, which is a promising application [22].…”

“…We measured the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency, which is the first key step towards full stabilization of such a source [22]. This experiment shows that TDLs are also excellent candidates for applications in spectroscopy and metrology, where high-power frequency combs are of interest.…”

Ultrafast thin disk lasers: sub-100 fs pulse duration and carrier envelope offset detection

“…The details of the experimental setup are presented in ref. [9]. We obtained pulses as short as 142 fs at an average power of 7 W and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 15%.…”