High-repetition-rate and high-power efficient picosecond thin-disk regenerative amplifier

We present an effective approach to realize a highly efficient,high-power and chirped pulse amplification-free ultrafast ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet thin-disk regenerative amplifier pumped by a zero-phonon line 969 nm laser diode.The amplifier delivers an output power exceeding 154 W at a pulse repetition rate of 1 MHz with custom-designed 48 pump passes.The exceptional thermal management on the thin disk through high-quality bonding,efficient heat dissipation and a fully locked spectrum collectively contributes to achieving a remarkable optical-to-optical efficiency of 61%and a near-diffraction-limit beam quality with an M2 factor of 1.06.To the best of our knowledge,this represents the highest conversion efficiency reported in ultrafast thin-disk regenerative amplifiers.Furthermore,the amplifier operates at room temperature and exhibits exceptional stability,with root mean square stability of less than 0.33%.This study significantly represents advances in the field of laser amplification systems,particularly in terms of efficiency and average power.This advantageous combination of high efficiency and diffraction limitation positions the thin-disk regenerative amplifier as a promising solution for a wide range of scientific and industrial applications.

Generation of single solitons tunable from 3 to3.8μm in cascaded Er^(3+)-doped and Dy^(3+)-doped fluoride fiber amplifiers

High-power tunable femtosecond mid-infrared(MIR)pulses are of great interest for many scientific and industrial applications.Here we demonstrate a compact fluoride-fiber-based system that generates single solitons tunable from 3 to 3.8μm.The system is composed of an Er:ZBLAN fiber oscillator and amplifier followed by a fusion-spliced Dy:ZBLAN fiber amplifier.The Er:ZBLAN fiber amplifier acts as a power booster as well as a frequency shifter to generate Raman solitons up to 3μm.The Dy:ZBLAN fiber amplifier transfers the energy from the residual 2.8μm radiation into the Raman solitons using an in-band pumping scheme,and further extends the wavelength up to 3.8μm.Common residual pump radiation and secondary solitons accompanying the soliton self-frequency shift(SSFS)are recycled to amplify Raman solitons,consequently displaying a higher output power and pulse energy,a wider shifting range,and an excellent spectral purity.Stable 252 fs pulses at3.8μm with a record average power of 1.6 W and a pulse energy of 23 n J are generated.This work provides an effective way to develop high-power widely tunable ultrafast single-soliton MIR laser sources,and this method can facilitate the design of other SSFS-based laser systems for single-soliton generation.