Abstract
We report the use of nonlinear compression in a very large mode-area rod-type photonic crystal fiber. This fiber allows the use of high energy pulses in the few microjoule range. We demonstrate the compression of 4 microJ, 338 fs pulses from a fiber chirped pulse amplification (FCPA) system down to 49 fs, 41 MW peak power pulses at a repetition rate of 200 kHz with an average power of 400 mW. The nonlinear compression setup is composed of a 5-cm-long rod-type fiber and a pair of SF10 prisms. The system was optimized to obtain good temporal quality, with a temporal Strehl ration of 86 % for the compressed 49 fs pulses.
Highlights
The generation of high-average, high peak-power, ultra-short pulses is challenging for all laser architectures
The geometry of fibers allows very good thermal properties, suitable for high average power laser development: kW average power sources have been demonstrated in the CW regime
The output energy is limited by the mode area of the LMA fiber. In this contribution we report, for the first time to our knowledge, the use of a rod-type photonic crystal fiber as the passive nonlinear element to provide the self-phase modulation (SPM) induced spectral broadening at even higher energy level, due to the larger mode area exhibited by these fibers
Summary
The generation of high-average, high peak-power, ultra-short pulses is challenging for all laser architectures. Laser sources capable of generating such pulses will find numerous applications in medicine and fundamental science [1] Towards this goal achievement, Ybdoped fiber chirped pulse amplification (FCPA) systems have been recently proven to be a very attractive alternative to the well established Ti:Sapphire based technology. Silica fibers can be used as a nonlinear medium to provide the SPM when the input energy is lower This technique has been used recently with a microstructured 40 μm-diameter LMA, and resulted in 0.73 μJ pulses of 20 MW peak power [8]. The uncompensated non-linear residual spectral phase, a crucial point for the compressed pulse quality [9,10], has been carefully optimized, resulting in the generation of high quality 49 fs pulses of 2 μJ energy exhibiting 41 MW peak power
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