Diode-pumped Kerr-lens Mode-locked Yb Research Articles

A 54-fs diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:LuYSiO5 laser

We demonstrate a Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:LuYSiO5 (Yb:LYSO) laser with the pulse duration of 54 fs, corresponding to a spectral bandwidth of 25 nm centered at 1062 nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse duration obtained from Yb:LYSO laser. At the repetition rate of 378.3 MHz, an output power of 111.6 mW is obtained using an output coupler with 0.6% transmittance, which can maintain long-time stable mode-locking more than 13 h.

Efficient high-power sub-50-fs gigahertz repetition rate diode-pumped solid-state laser.

In this article we present a directly diode-pumped high-power Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CALGO bulk laser oscillator operating at 1-GHz repetition rate. We report on two laser configurations optimized for either highest average power or shortest pulse duration. In the first configuration optimized for high average power, the oscillator delivers up to 6.9 W of average power, which is the highest average power of any ultrafast laser oscillator operating at gigahertz repetition rate. The 93-fs pulses have a peak power of 64 kW, and the optical-to-optical efficiency amounts to 37%. In the second configuration optimized for short pulse duration, we demonstrate 48-fs pulses at 4.1 W of average power corresponding to a higher peak power of 74kW with 21% optical-to-optical efficiency. This is the shortest pulse duration and the highest peak power demonstrated by any GHz-class Yb-based laser oscillator. The compact laser setup is directly pumped by a low-cost multimode fiber-coupled laser diode and has a high potential as an economical yet powerful source for various applications.

95 fs pulses with 1.21 MW peak power from diode-pumped ultrafast Yb:CaGdAlO 4 laser using an additional Kerr medium

We theoretically analyzed the thermal effects in a diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CGA oscillator. The calculation of temperature distribution in the Yb:CGA crystal was performed with finite element simulations. The thermal lens focal length in the crystal was calculated at different pump power levels. Using an additional fused silica as the Kerr medium, we demonstrated a high-power diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:CGA oscillator. The laser delivered 95 fs pulse duration with an average power of 7.5 W at the repetition rate of 65 MHz, which corresponding to 115 nJ of the pulse energy and 1.21 MW of the peak power. With the method of separation of the gain material and Kerr medium, the output power can be scalable to multi-Watts while the pulses duration is maintained at sub-100 fs level.

Diode-pumped high-power sub-100 fs Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CaYAlO4 laser with 185 MW peak power

We demonstrated a diode-pumped high-power Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CaYAlO4 (Yb:CALYO) laser with a dual-confocal cavity, directly generating 59-fs pulses with 6.2 W average power, which is the highest average power from any sub-60 fs Yb-doped solid-state lasers. With the repetition rate of 50 MHz, the corresponding single pulse energy was 124 nJ and the peak power was 1.85 MW, which to the best of our knowledge is the highest peak power delivered directly from a sub-100 fs Yb-based bulk lasers ever.

Diode-pumped power scalable Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CYA laser

Stable 68 fs pulses with the average power of 1.5 W is directly generated from a multimode diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CYA laser by separating the gain medium and Kerr medium. The repetition rate is about 50 MHz, resulting in a single pulse energy of 30 nJ and a peak power of 0.44 MW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest single pulse energy ever produced from a mode-locked Yb:CYA oscillator. Our experimental results show that Yb:CYA crystal is an excellent candidate for multiwatt, sub-100 fs pulse generation in diode-pumped all-solid-state lasers. It is believed that the output power can be scalable to multi-W while the pulse duration is maintained with this simple method.

High-power diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked bulk Yb:KGW laser.

A high-power (>1 W) pure Kerr-lens mode-locked bulk Yb:KGW laser with multimode fiber-coupled diode pumping was demonstrated. The laser delivered 240fs pulses with 2.3W of average output power at 86.8MHz, corresponding to 97kW of peak power and 26nJ of pulse energy. The shortest generated pulse duration was 120fs with 1.2W of output power. The self-starting regime was also observed with a background continuous-wave component. The laser exhibited more than an order of magnitude higher output power when compared to the previously reported bulk Yb-ion-doped lasers with multimode laser diode pumping systems.

Diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond Yb:YAG ceramic laser**Project supported by the National Major Scientific Instrument Development Project of China (Grant No. 2012YQ120047), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61205130), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. JB140502).

We experimentally demonstrated a diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond laser based on an Yb:YAG ceramic. Stable laser pulses with 97-fs duration, 2.8-nJ pulse energy, and 320-mW average power were obtained. The femtosecond oscillator operated at a central wavelength of 1049 nm and a repetition rate of 115 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a Kerr-lens mode-locked operation in a diode-pumped Yb:YAG ceramic laser with sub-100 fs pulse duration.

Diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb: GSO laser generating 72 fs pulses

The generation of 72fs hyperbolic secant pulses centered at 1050nm with 17.8nm bandwidth from a diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb: GSO laser is demonstrated. With the help of a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror, stable mode-locking with an average output power of 85mW at a repetition rate of 113MHz is realized. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of Kerr-lens mode-locking in Yb: GSO laser.

Diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CaGdAlO4 laser with tunable wavelength

We experimentally demonstrated a wavelength tunable Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond laser based on an Yb:CaGdAlO4 (Yb:CGA) crystal. The Kerr-lens mode-locked wavelength tuning range was from 1043.5 to 1076 nm, as broad as 32.5 nm, by slightly tilting the end mirror. Pulses as short as 60 fs were generated at the central wavelength of 1043.8 nm with an average output power of 66 mW. By using an output coupler with 1.5% transmittance, the Kerr-lens mode-locked average output power reached 127 mW with a pulse duration of 81 fs at a central wavelength of 1049.5 nm.

1.2 ps Kerr-lens self-mode-locked Yb:Y2SiO5 laser

We demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, a diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:Y2SiO5 laser. No cavity dispersion compensation components were applied and the shortest pulse width of 1.2 ps was obtained. The maximum KLM output power of 1.05 W was obtained at a central wavelength of 1,058 nm. The pulse repetition rate was 97.8 MHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of 10.7 nJ and a peak power of 8.9 kW, respectively.

Generation of 54 Fs Laser Pulses from a Diode Pumped Kerr-Lens Mode-Locked Yb:LSO Laser

A diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond Yb:LSO laser is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. The 54 fs laser pulses at central wavelength of 1052 nm with a bandwidth of 22.5 nm are obtained at the repetition rate of 113 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse duration ever produced from the Yb-doped orthosilicates lasers family.

Generation of 73 fs pulses from a diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YCa₄O(BO₃)₃ laser.

We realized a stable Kerr-lens mode-locked operation in a Yb:YCa₄O(BO₃)₃ laser. Pulses as short as 73 fs were generated at the central wavelength of 1043 nm, with a bandwidth of 19 nm. The femtosecond oscillator operating at a repetition rate of 110 MHz delivers an average output power of 70 mW under 3 W diode pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a pure Kerr-lens mode-locked operation in a diode-pumped Yb:YCa₄O(BO₃)₃ laser.

Diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:LYSO laser with 61fs pulse duration.

A stable diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:LuYSiO5 (Yb:LYSO) laser of generating 61 fs pulses at a central wavelength of 1055.4 nm is experimentally demonstrated. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of femtosecond KLM operation in Yb:LYSO laser, and it is believed that 61 fs is the shortest pulse duration ever produced from an Yb-doped orthosilicate laser. The average output power of the mode-locked laser is 40 mW and the repetition rate is 113 MHz.

Saturable absorber mirrors for ytterbium mode-locked femtosecond lasers

We present a femtosecond, diode-pumped Yb:KYW laser configured with a range of saturable absorber mirrors, both commercially available and state-of-the-art structures. The laser performance is characterized for different output coupler (OC) transmission – for the typically used OC transmission between 0.5-10% the laser power increases with the increasing transmission but the spectrum gets narrower at the same time, resulting in longer pulses and the laser pulse peak power having a maximum. Full Text: PDF References C. Hönninger, R. Paschotta, M. Graf, F. Morier-Genoud, G. Zhang, M. Moser, S. Biswal, J. Nees, A. Braun, G.A. Mourou, I. Johannsen, A. Giesen, W. Seeber, U. Keller, "Ultrafast ytterbium-doped bulk lasers and laser amplifiers", Appl. Phys. B 69, 3 (1999). CrossRef A. Lagatsky, C. Brown, W. Sibbett, "Highly efficient and low threshold diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KYW laser", Opt. Expr. 12, 3928 (2004). CrossRef H. Liu, J. Nees, G. Mourou, "Diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KY(WO4)2 laser", Opt. Lett. 26, 1723 (2005). CrossRef P. Wasylczyk, C. Radzewicz, "Design and alignment criteria for a simple, robust, diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:KYW oscillator", Laser Phys. 19, 129 (2009). CrossRef S. Meyer, J. Squier, S. Diddams, "Diode-pumped Yb:KYW femtosecond laser frequency comb with stabilized carrier-envelope offset frequency", Eur. Phys. J. D 48, 19 (2008). CrossRef D. Kopf, G. Zhang, R. Fluck, M. Moser, U. Keller, "All-in-one dispersion-compensating saturable absorber mirror for compact femtosecond laser sources", Opt. Lett. 21, 486 (1996). CrossRef R. Paschotta, G. Spuhler, D. Sutter, N. Matuschek, U. Keller, M. Moser, R. Hovel, V. Scheuer, G. Angelow, T. Tschudi, "Double-chirped semiconductor mirror for dispersion compensation in femtosecond lasers", Appl. Phys. Lett. 75, 2166 (1999). CrossRef A. Jasik, P. Wasylczyk, M. Dems, P. Wnuk, A. Wójcik-Jedlińska, K. Reginski, Ł. Zinkiewicz, K. Hejduk, "A passively mode-locked, self-starting femtosecond Yb:KYW laser with a single highly dispersive semiconductor double-chirped mirror for dispersion compensation", Laser Phys. Lett. 10, 085302 (2013). CrossRef A. Schmidt, S. Rivier, W. Cho, J. Yim, S. Choi, S. Lee, F. Rotermund, D. Rytz, G. Steinmeyer, V. Petrov, U. Griebner, "Sub-100 fs single-walled carbon nanotube saturable absorber mode-locked Yb-laser operation near 1 µm", Opt. Expr. 17, 20109 (2009). CrossRef E. Rafailov, S. White, A. Lagatsky, A. Miller, W. Sibbett, D. Livshits, A. Zhukov, V. Ustinov, "Fast quantum-dot saturable absorber for passive mode-locking of solid-State lasers ", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 16, 2439 (2004). CrossRef A. Jasik, J. Muszalski, J. Talalaev, M. Kosmala, K. Pierściński, M. Bugajski, "Low-temperature grown near surface semiconductor saturable absorber mirror: Design, growth conditions, characterization, and mode-locked operation", J. Appl. Phys. 109, 053101 (2009). CrossRef G. Sobon, J. Sotor, I. Pasternak, K. Grodecki, P. Paletko, W. Strupinski, Z. Jankiewicz and K. Abramski, "Er-Doped Fiber Laser Mode-Locked by CVD-Graphene Saturable Absorber", J. Light. Technol. 30, 2770 (2012). CrossRef

Powerful 67 fs Kerr-lens mode-locked prismless Yb:KGW oscillator

We report on the generation of 67 fs pulses from a diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KGW bulk laser. The average output power reached 3 W, corresponding to >38 nJ of pulse energy and >570 kW of peak power. The mode locking was initiated by a semiconductor saturable absorber. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average output power produced to date from Yb-ion based bulk lasers with such a short pulse duration.

Diode-pumped 88-fs Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:Y_3Ga_5O_12 crystal laser

We realized a stable Kerr-lens mode-locked operation in a diode-pumped Yb:Y₃Ga₅O₁₂ laser. Pulses as short as 88 fs at the center wavelength of 1042 nm were obtained at a repetition rate of 159.3 MHz. The maximum output power was 104 mW under the incident pump power of 3.9 W. By comparing the mode-locked characteristics under different output transmissions, we obtained pulses with the highest output power of 330 mW and a duration of 149 fs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:Y₃Ga₅O₁₂ laser.

Highly efficient and low threshold diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KYW laser

We report a highly efficient diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:KYW laser with a compact three-element resonator. Near-transform-limited pulses of 107fs duration at a centre wavelength of 1056nm are produced at a pulse repetition frequency of 294MHz by utilising softaperture Kerr-lens mode locking. The femtosecond operation had a modelocking threshold at a pump power of 250mW and the laser was tunable from 1042nm to 1075nm. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency exceeded 50% in this femtosecond-pulse regime.