title: Self-compression in a solid fiber to 24 MW peak power with few-cycle pulses at 2 μm wavelength.
abstract: We report on the experimental realization of a compact, fiber-based, ultrashort-pulse laser system in the 2 μm wavelength region delivering 24 fs pulse duration with 24 MW pulse peak power and 24.6 W average power. This performance level has been enabled by the favorable quadratic wavelength-dependence of the self-focusing limit, which has been experimentally verified to be at approximately 24 MW for circular polarization in a solid-core fused-silica fiber operated at a wavelength around 2 μm. The anomalous dispersion in this wavelength region allows for a simultaneous nonlinear spectral broadening and temporal pulse compression. This makes an additional compression stage redundant and facilitates a very simple and power-scalable approach. Simulations that include both the nonlinear pulse evolution and the transverse optical Kerr effect support the experimental results.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaida
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gebhardt
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stutzki
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jauregui
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Limpert
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tünnermann