Terawatt diode-pumped Yb:CaF2 laser.
We present what we believe to be the first terawatt diode-pumped laser employing single-crystalline Yb:CaF(2) as the amplifying medium. A maximum pulse energy of 420 mJ at a repetition rate of 1 Hz was achieved by seeding with a stretched femtosecond pulse 2 ns in duration, preamplified to 40 mJ. After recompression, a pulse energy of 197 mJ and a duration of 192 fs were obtained, corresponding to a peak power of 1 TW. Furthermore, nanosecond pulses containing an energy of up to 905 mJ were generated without optical damage.
Siebold
Mathias
M
Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, FSU Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany. mathias.siebold@gmx.de
Hornung
Marco
M
Boedefeld
Ragnar
R
Podleska
Sebastian
S
Klingebiel
Sandro
S
Wandt
Christoph
C
Krausz
Ferenc
F
Karsch
Stefan
S
Uecker
Reinhard
R
Jochmann
Axel
A
Hein
Joachim
J
Kaluza
Malte Christoph
MC