High-power multi-megahertz source of waveform-stabilized few-cycle light.

O Pronin,V Pervak,F Krausz,A Apolonski,E Fedulova,J Brons,F Lücking,M Seidel,M Trubetskov,Th Udem

doi:10.1038/ncomms7988

Abstract

Waveform-stabilized laser pulses have revolutionized the exploration of the electronic structure and dynamics of matter by serving as the technological basis for frequency-comb and attosecond spectroscopy. Their primary sources, mode-locked titanium-doped sapphire lasers and erbium/ytterbium-doped fibre lasers, deliver pulses with several nanojoules energy, which is insufficient for many important applications. Here we present the waveform-stabilized light source that is scalable to microjoule energy levels at the full (megahertz) repetition rate of the laser oscillator. A diode-pumped Kerr-lens-mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk laser combined with extracavity pulse compression yields waveform-stabilized few-cycle pulses (7.7 fs, 2.2 cycles) with a pulse energy of 0.15 μJ and an average power of 6 W. The demonstrated concept is scalable to pulse energies of several microjoules and near-gigawatt peak powers. The generation of attosecond pulses at the full repetition rate of the oscillator comes into reach. The presented system could serve as a primary source for frequency combs in the mid infrared and vacuum UV with unprecedented high power levels.

Highlights

Waveform-stabilized laser pulses have revolutionized the exploration of the electronic structure and dynamics of matter by serving as the technological basis for frequency-comb and attosecond spectroscopy
Femtosecond titanium-doped sapphire (Ti:Sa) laser oscillators and erbium/ytterbium fibre oscillators constitute a key workhorse of cutting-edge ultrafast science and precision spectroscopy
The laser output is coupled into a large-mode-area photonic crystal fibre (PCF) of 26 mm mode field diameter and 8 cm length for spectral broadening via self-phase modulation

Summary

Introduction

Waveform-stabilized laser pulses have revolutionized the exploration of the electronic structure and dynamics of matter by serving as the technological basis for frequency-comb and attosecond spectroscopy Their primary sources, mode-locked titanium-doped sapphire lasers and erbium/ytterbium-doped fibre lasers, deliver pulses with several nanojoules energy, which is insufficient for many important applications. Femtosecond titanium-doped sapphire (Ti:Sa) laser oscillators and erbium/ytterbium fibre oscillators constitute a key workhorse of cutting-edge ultrafast science and precision spectroscopy Their importance lies in the combination of a spectral output spanning up to an optical octave with the capability of achieving full control over the generated waveforms or, equivalently, the emitted frequency comb. This is partially due to the challenge of reliably maintaining saturable absorption mode-locking at kilowatt intracavity power levels[21]

Methods

Results

Conclusion