Highly stable, 54mJ Yb-InnoSlab laser platform at 0.5kW average power

Area of Science:

• Laser Physics
• Nonlinear Optics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Advanced laser systems are crucial for scientific research and industrial applications.
• Ytterbium-doped (Yb) laser technology offers unique advantages for high-power and ultrashort pulse generation.
• InnoSlab laser architectures enable compact and efficient high-energy laser systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the performance leap of Yb-InnoSlab laser technology.
• To achieve high pulse energy and high average power simultaneously.
• To investigate the generation of tunable femtosecond seed pulses and ultrabroadband infrared spectra.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Yb-InnoSlab laser architecture for high-energy pulse generation.
• Operated the laser at a 10 kHz repetition rate with 1.5 picosecond (ps) pulse durations.
• Investigated white light continuum generation and pulse compression techniques.
• Employed difference frequency generation (DFG) for generating broadband IR spectra.

Main Results:

• Achieved high pulse energies of 54 mJ.
• Exceeded an average power of 500 W.
• Demonstrated excellent beam quality (M² of 1.1) and high stability (<1% power and pointing).
• Generated tunable femtosecond (fs) seed pulses and compressed them down to 10 fs.
• Produced ultra-broadband IR spectra centered at 2 µm via DFG.

Conclusions:

• The Yb-InnoSlab laser technology represents a significant advancement in high-energy, high-power ultrashort pulse lasers.
• The system's stability and versatile output ports are suitable for pumping parametric amplifiers.
• The capability to generate tunable fs seed pulses and broadband IR spectra opens new avenues for spectroscopic applications.