title: High-power 200 fs Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator.
abstract: We demonstrate a power-scalable Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator. It delivers 200 fs pulses at an average power of 17 W and a repetition rate of 40 MHz. At an increased (180 W) pump power level, the laser produces 270 fs 1.1 μJ pulses at an average power of 45 W (optical-to-optical efficiency of 25%). Semiconductor-saturable-absorber-mirror-assisted Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) and pure KLM with a hard aperture show similar performance. To our knowledge, these are the shortest pulses achieved from a mode-locked Yb:YAG disk oscillator and this is the first demonstration of a Kerr-lens mode-locked thin-disk laser.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany. oleg.pronin@mpq.mpg.de
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pronin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brons
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grasse
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pervak
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.forename: M-C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Amann
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Kalashnikov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Apolonski
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krausz