Compact Diode-pumped Yb Research Articles

A 10-mJ-level compact CPA system based on Yb:KGW for ultrafast optical parametric amplifier pumping

A compact diode-pumped Yb:KGW regenerative amplifier producing 10 Hz, 10-mJ-level picosecond pulses at 1,040 nm is demonstrated. The system is used at the new front end of the PHELIX petawatt laser system to pump an ultrafast optical parametric amplifier for temporal contrast enhancement. Before frequency doubling, a pulse length of ∼1 ps is obtained by using a stretcher/compressor system based on a single large-aperture chirped volume Bragg grating.

Compact diode-pumped Yb:YAl3(BO3)4 laser generating 14.0 W of continuous-wave and 8.5 W of pulsed output powers

An efficient compact diode-pumped Yb:YAl3(BO3)4 laser operating at room temperature is demonstrated. Output powers of 14.0 and 8.5 W are generated in continuous-wave and passively Q-switched operation, respectively. Laser pulses of 262.8 μJ in energy and 8.1 ns in duration are obtained, the corresponding peak power amounting to 32.4 kW.

Compact diode-pumped 11 kW Yb:YAG Innoslab femtosecond amplifier

We demonstrate a compact diode-pumped Yb:KGW femtosecond oscillator-Yb:YAG Innoslab amplifier master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) with nearly transform-limited 636 fs pulses at 620 W average output power, 20 MHz repetition rate, and beam quality of M(x)(2) = 1.43 and M(y)(2) = 1.35. By cascading two amplifiers, we attain an average output power of 1.1 kW, a peak power of 80 MW, and a 615 fs pulse width in a single linearly polarized beam. The power-scalable MOPA is operated at room temperature, and no chirped-pulse amplification technique is used.

400W Yb:YAG Innoslab fs-Amplifier

The Innoslab design, already established for neodymium doped laser crystals, was applied to ytterbium doped laser materials. Recent progresses in brightness of high power diode lasers facilitate efficient pumping of quasi-three-level laser materials. Innoslab amplifiers are compared to competing thin-disk and fiber fs-amplifiers. A compact diode-pumped Yb:YAG Innoslab fs-oscillator-amplifier system, scalable to the kilowatt range, was realized. Numerical simulations result in conditions for high efficiency and beam quality. Nearly transform and diffraction limited 680 fs pulses at 400 W average output power and 76 MHz repetition rate without using CPA technology have been achieved at room temperature so far.

Temporal behavior of the laser pulse for intracavity optical parametric oscillator

We describe a compact, end-pumped all-solid-state, and Q-switched intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO). With this design, the relaxation oscillation type of multi-pulses produced in the intracavity OPO is eliminated. The intracavity OPO is based on periodically poled RbTiOAsO(4) (PPRTA) as the nonlinear material and is pumped by a compact diode-pumped Yb:YAG Q-switched laser at a wavelength of 1.030 microm. The pulse width (FWHM) is about 11 ns at the full pump power for both the signal and idler pulses. Output energies of 384 microJ at idler wavelength and 615 microJ at signal wavelength are obtained. We demonstrate a Q-switched IPOPO oscillator that operates the signal and idler wavelengths without relaxation oscillation type multi-pulses and with fast wavelength tuning ability for both signal and idler wavelength.

Efficient continuous-wave and Q-switched operation of a diode-pumped Yb:KLu(WO_4)_2 laser with self-Raman conversion

Efficient cw and passively Q-switched operation with self-stimulated Raman scattering conversion was demonstrated in a compact diode-pumped Yb:KLu(WO4)2 laser. A cw output power of 3.28 W was obtained with an optical efficiency of 48.2% and a slope efficiency of 78.2% with respect to the incident pump power. Stable Q-switched operation was achieved with a Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber, generating 32.4 microJ fundamental pulses with a duration of 1.41 ns at 1030.6 nm and 14.4 microJ Raman pulses with a duration of 0.71 ns at 1137.6 nm. At an incident pump power of 7.0 W, the average output power reached 0.9 and 0.4 W for fundamental and Raman radiation, with slope efficiencies of 32.1% and 14.1%, respectively.