Autonomous, flexible and reliable ultra-short pulse laser at 1552.5 nm

Abstract

Despite the growing number of biomedical and micromachining applications enabled by ultra-short pulse lasers in laboratory environments, realworld applications remain scarce due to the lack of robust, affordable and flexible laser sources with meaningful energy and average power specifications. In this presentation, we will describe a laser source developed at the eye-safe wavelength of 1552.5 nm around a software architecture that enables complete autonomous control of the system, fast warm-up and flexible operation. Our current desktop ultra-short pulse laser system offers specifications (1-5 microJ at 500 kHz, 800 fs-3 ps pulse width, variable repetition rate from 1 Hz to 500 kHz) that are meaningful for many applications ranging from medical to micromachining. We will also present an overview of applications that benefit from the range of parameters provided by our desktop platform. Finally, we will present a novel scalable approach for fiber delivery of high peak power pulses using a hollow core Bragg fiber recently developed for the first time by Raydiance and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for operation around 1550 nm. We will demonstrate that this fiber supports single mode operation for core sizes up to 100 micron, low dispersion and low nonlinearities with acceptable losses. This fiber is a good candidate for flexible delivery of ultra-short laser pulses in applications such as minimally accessible surgery or remote detection.