100 kW peak power picosecond thulium-doped fiber amplifier system seeded by a gain-switched diode laser at 2 μm.
We report on the generation of picosecond pulses at 2 μm directly from a gain-switched discrete-mode diode laser and their amplification in a multistage thulium-doped fiber amplifier chain. The system is capable of operating at repetition rates in the range of 2 MHz-1.5 GHz without change of configuration, delivering high-quality 33 ps pulses with up to 3.5 μJ energy and 100 kW peak power, as well as up to 18 W of average power. These results represent a major technological advance and a 1 order of magnitude increase in peak power and pulse energy compared to existing picosecond sources at 2 μm.
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. a.heidt@soton.ac.uk
A M
AM
Heidt
Z
Z
Li
J
J
Sahu
P C
PC
Shardlow
M
M
Becker
M
M
Rothhardt
M
M
Ibsen
R
R
Phelan
B
B
Kelly
S U
SU
Alam
D J
DJ
Richardson