Diode-pumped Regenerative Amplifier Research Articles

Short-pulse and high-repetition-rate diode-pumped Yb:CaF_2 regenerative amplifier

We present a diode-pumped regenerative amplifier based on an Yb:CaF(2) crystal optimized to produce short pulses for various repetition rates ranging from 100 Hz to 10 kHz. The shortest pulse duration generated is 178 fs, and the corresponding energy is 1.4 mJ before compression (620 microJ after), at a repetition rate of 500 Hz for 16 W of pump power. The bandwidth is 10 nm centered at 1040 nm. Higher repetition rate regimes have also been explored, allowing an optical-to-optical efficiency up to 10% at a high repetition rate.

Spectral filtering in a diode-pumped Nd:YLF regenerative amplifier using a volume Bragg grating

Instrument-limited suppression of out-of-band Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) is demonstrated in a Nd:YLF Diode-Pumped Regenerative Amplifier (DPRA) using a Volume Bragg Grating (VBG) as a spectrally selective reflective element. A VBG with 99.4% diffraction efficiency and 230-pm-FWHM reflection bandwidth produced a 43-pm- FWHM output spectral width in an unseeded DPRA compared to 150-pm FWHM in the same DPRA with no VBG. Instrument-limited ASE suppression is even observed when the DPRA seed pulse energy approaches the ASE background.

Nd:glass regenerative amplifier for CPA (chirped-pulse amplification) lasers

We demonstrate a highly stable, diode-pumped regenerative amplifier for CPA laser systems that utilizes Nd:glass as the active medium. When end pumped with a 120-W quasi-cw (QCW) diode laser bar, a maximum pulse energy of 270μJ has been achieved at an excellent pulse-to-pulse energy stability of 0.56% rms.

Directly diode-pumped Yb3+:SrY4(SiO4)3O regenerative amplifier.

We report a regenerative amplifier based on an Yb-doped apatite crystal: Yb3+:SrY4(SiO4)3O (Yb:SYS). We obtained 420-fs pulses at a central wavelength of 1066 nm with an energy of 100 microJ at 300 Hz after compression. To the best of our knowledge, this system is the first regenerative amplifier based on an Yb:SYS crystal and provides duration among the shortest ones generated by a directly diode-pumped regenerative amplifier.