title: Terawatt diode-pumped Yb:CaF2 laser.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, FSU Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany. mathias.siebold@gmx.de
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siebold
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hornung
authors.forename: Ragnar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boedefeld
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Podleska
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klingebiel
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wandt
authors.forename: Ferenc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krausz
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karsch
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uecker
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jochmann
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.forename: Malte Christoph
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kaluza