Femtosecond thin disk laser oscillator with pulse energy beyond the 10-microjoule level.
We report on a passively mode-locked Yb:YAG thin disk laser oscillator that generates 11.3-microJ pulses without the use of any additional external amplification. A repetition rate of 4 MHz is obtained using a 23.4-m-long multiple-pass cavity that extends the resonator length to a total of 37 m. The nearly transform-limited pulses at 45 W of average output power have a duration of 791 fs with a 1.56-nm-broad spectrum centered at 1030 nm. The laser is operated in a helium atmosphere to eliminate the air nonlinearity inside the resonator that previously limited the pulse energy.
Marchese
S V
SV
Department of Physics, Institute of Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. marchese@phys.ethz.ch
Baer
C R E
CR
Engqvist
A G
AG
Hashimoto
S
S
Maas
D J H C
DJ
Golling
M
M
Südmeyer
T
T
Keller
U
U
D007834:Lasers; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D012031:Refractometry; D012666:Semiconductors; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013997:Time Factors