High-power 200 fs Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator.

Area of Science:

• Laser Physics and Photonics
• Materials Science (Yb:YAG)
• Ultrafast Optics

Background:

• Mode-locked Ytterbium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Yb:YAG) lasers are crucial for various scientific and industrial applications.
• Thin-disk laser architecture offers excellent thermal management for high-power operation.
• Achieving ultrashort pulses with high average power remains a key challenge in laser development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a power-scalable Kerr-lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator.
• To achieve ultrashort pulse durations from this laser system.
• To investigate the performance of both semiconductor-saturable-absorber-mirror-assisted KLM and pure KLM.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a Yb:YAG thin-disk laser gain medium.
• Implemented Kerr-lens mode-locking (KLM) technique, with and without a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror.
• Varied pump power levels to assess power scalability and performance characteristics.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a power-scalable Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator.
• Achieved 200 fs pulses at 17 W average power and 40 MHz repetition rate.
• At 180 W pump power, produced 270 fs pulses with 1.1 μJ pulse energy and 45 W average power (25% optical-to-optical efficiency).

Conclusions:

• This work presents the shortest pulses achieved to date from a mode-locked Yb:YAG disk oscillator.
• It is the first demonstration of a Kerr-lens mode-locked thin-disk laser.
• The results highlight the potential of KLM in Yb:YAG thin-disk lasers for high-power, ultrashort pulse generation.