title: 2 kW average power from a pulsed Yb-doped rod-type fiber amplifier.
abstract: This Letter reports on a fiber-laser system that, employing a 1 m long rod-type photonic-crystal fiber as its main-amplifier, emits a record average output power of 2 kW, by amplifying stretched ps-pulses. A further increase of the output power was only limited by the available laser-diode pump power. The energy of the pulses is 100 μJ, corresponding to MW-level peak powers extracted directly from the fiber of the main amplifier. The corresponding M2 at the maximum output power is <3, due to the onset of mode instabilities. The Letter covers the influence of this effect on the evolution of the beam quality with the output power. The numerical results show that the M2 value settles at around 3, even if the output average power is further increased.
authors.forename: Hans-Jürgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Otto
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stutzki
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Modsching
authors.forename: Cesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jauregui
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Limpert
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tünnermann