Sub-100-fs Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk laser oscillator operating at 21 W average power.

Norbert Modsching,Maxim Gaponenko,Clément Paradis,Julian Fischer,Jakub Drs,Christian Kränkel,François Labaye,Valentin J Wittwer,Thomas Südmeyer

doi:10.1364/oe.27.016111

Abstract

We investigate power-scaling of a Kerr lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk laser (TDL) oscillator operating in the sub-100-fs pulse duration regime. Employing a scheme with higher round-trip gain by increasing the number of passes through the thin-disk gain element, we increase the average power by a factor of two and the optical-to-optical efficiency by a factor of almost three compared to our previous sub-100-fs mode-locking results. The oscillator generates pulses with a duration of 95 fs at 21.1 W average power and 47.9 MHz repetition rate. We discuss the cavity design for continuous-wave and mode-locked operation and the estimation of the focal length of the Kerr lens. Unlike to usual KLM TDL oscillators, an operation at the edge of the stability zone in continuous-wave operation is not required. This work shows that KLM TDL oscillators based on the gain material Yb:Lu2O3 are an excellent choice for power-scaling of laser oscillators in the sub-100-fs regime, and we expect that such lasers will soon operate at power levels in excess of hundred watts.

Highlights

High-power ultrafast laser systems operating at MHz repetition rates are a versatile tool for numerous applications in science and industry [1]
We demonstrate that using this approach thindisk laser (TDL) oscillators based on the gain material Yb:Lu2O3 are suitable for the generation of sub-100-fs pulses at high average power with optical-to-optical efficiencies that are comparable to Yb-doped bulk oscillators (Table 1). 2
We demonstrated a Kerr lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:Lu2O3 TDL oscillator generating 95-fs pulses at 21.1 W average power

Summary

Introduction

High-power ultrafast laser systems operating at MHz repetition rates are a versatile tool for numerous applications in science and industry [1]. Abstract: We investigate power-scaling of a Kerr lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:Lu2O3 thindisk laser (TDL) oscillator operating in the sub-100-fs pulse duration regime. Ultrafast TDL oscillators based on the most mature gain material Yb:YAG have already reached average powers of 275 W, but operating at several hundred femtoseconds of pulse duration [29,30].

Results

Conclusion