Milli-joule class femtosecond regenerative amplifier enabled by a narrowband fiber oscillator

Abstract

We report on a room-temperature operated, Yb:CaF2 based, chirped-pulse regenerative amplifier system with a pulse duration of 300 fs and an output pulse energy of 2.0 mJ. A novel front end comprising a narrowband fiber oscillator and a nonlinear fiber amplifier is adopted to seed the regenerative amplifier. To achieve broadband spectral coverage for femtosecond pulse generation, nonlinear fiber amplification is implemented and spurs a 7-folded spectral extension. After the successive pulse stretching, spectral reshaping, regenerative amplifying, and compressing, optimum pulses with 300-fs duration and 6.7-GW peak power are obtained. Such intense pulses are capable of inducing laser filament at 0.4-mJ energy with a loosely focusing geometry. Our method demonstrates the potential of narrowband fiber lasers to enable femtosecond regenerative amplifiers and paves the way toward compact, robust, and cost-effective millijoule-class lasers.