Powerful 67 fs Kerr-lens mode-locked prismless Yb:KGW oscillator

We report on the generation of 67 fs pulses from a diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KGW bulk laser. The average output power reached 3 W, corresponding to >38 nJ of pulse energy and >570 kW of peak power. The mode locking was initiated by a semiconductor saturable absorber. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average output power produced to date from Yb-ion based bulk lasers with such a short pulse duration.