Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 4: Laserentwicklung: Festkörperlaser I
Q 4.6: Talk
Monday, March 2, 2009, 12:00–12:15, VMP 6 HS-C
Highly efficient 4 W, 160 fs Yb:KGW laser oscillator pumped by a single broad area diode and its application for high-power femtosecond supercontinuum generation — •Felix Hoos1, Todd Meyrath1, Sai Li1, Bernd Braun2, and Harald Giessen1 — 14. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart — 2Georg-Simon-Ohm Hochschule, Keßlerplatz 12, 90489 Nürnberg
We present a novel and very simple design for a highly efficient femtosecond Yb:KGW laser oscillator. The laser is capable to generate femtosecond laser pulses at a repetition rate of 44 MHz. An average power of nearly 5 W was obtained for a pulse width of 224 fs, resulting in an optical-to-optical efficiency of more than 28%. With a pulse width of 161 fs, more than 4 W at an optical-to-optical efficiency of 23% were achieved. The laser is based on slab laser crystal geometry and is pumped by a single broad area diode. The progress in efficiency and simplicity is due to the high beam quality of the employed pump diode and to a thorough consideration of the thermal effects that are induced in the gain medium. Concerning thermal lensing, these diodes show some differences compared to other high-power diodes due to their particular beam profile. We present experimental investigations and results of numerical modeling of the thermal effects that are caused by these diodes.
Furthermore we are going to present results of supercontinuum generation in tapered fibers with this laser. Femtosecond supercontinua with more than 1W overall average power could be obtained.