Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:KLuW thin-disk laser

The Yb:KREW (Yb:KRE(WO₄)₂, where RE = Y, Gd, Lu) crystal family is an excellent laser medium for ultrashort pulse lasers due to its broad bandwidth and high gain. However, it is a highly anisotropic and biaxial medium, making its use as a thin-disk laser challenging. In this study, to the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate the first Kerr-lens mode-locked thin-disk laser based on Yb:KLuW, utilizing a sufficiently thin gain medium and low thermal resistance bonding. This configuration achieved a pulse duration of 48.0 fs, a spectral width of 24.1 nm at center wavelength of 1026.0 nm, and an average output power of 0.425 W. Additionally, 3.3 W of output power with 59.8 fs pulses were obtained by adjusting the output coupling ratio. Furthermore, multimode CW operation yielded 138 W of output power with a 62% slope efficiency.