Regenerative Nd:glass amplifier seeded with a Nd:fiber laser.

Area of Science:

• Laser physics
• Photonics
• Materials science

Background:

• Passively mode-locked lasers are crucial for generating ultrashort optical pulses.
• Neodymium-doped (Nd) gain media are widely used in laser systems.
• Fiber lasers offer advantages in beam quality and robustness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate wavelength tuning and broad-bandwidth operation of a passively mode-locked Nd:fiber laser.
• To utilize the fiber laser output to seed a bulk regenerative amplifier.
• To achieve high-energy, ultrashort pulses from a hybrid laser system.

Main Methods:

• Employing a passively mode-locked Nd:fiber laser oscillator for initial pulse generation.
• Utilizing wavelength tuning and broad-bandwidth operation capabilities of the fiber laser.
• Seeding a bulk regenerative Nd:glass amplifier with the oscillator pulses.
• Characterizing the amplified pulses for duration, energy, and transform limit.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated wavelength tuning and broad-bandwidth operation at 1060 micrometers.
• Achieved 300-fs transform-limited pulses.
• Obtained pulse energy of 10 microJ.
• Successful amplification after 31 round trips in the regenerative amplifier at a 500 Hz repetition rate.

Conclusions:

• The hybrid fiber-bulk laser architecture is effective for generating high-energy, ultrashort pulses.
• Passively mode-locked Nd:fiber lasers are suitable for seeding regenerative amplifiers.
• The demonstrated system offers potential for applications requiring tunable, high-power ultrashort laser pulses.