Broadband Yb:CaF2 regenerative amplifier for millijoule range ultrashort pulse amplification

Sandrine Ricaud (1) , Martin Delaigue (2) , Antoine Courjaud (2) , Frédéric Druon (1) , Patrick Georges (1) , Patrice Camy (3) , Jean-Louis Doualan (3) , Richard Moncorgé (3) , Eric Mottay (2)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Elsa
2 Amplitude Systèmes
3 CIMAP - UMR 6252 - Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les MAtériaux et la Photonique

We report on a diode-pumped regenerative amplifier based on Yb:CaF2 material, delivering pulses up to 1.8mJ pulse energy at a repetition rate of 100Hz. The crystal is pumped at the zero line at 978 nm with a 10W continuous wave (CW) fiber coupled laser diode. The pulses have a spectral bandwidth of 16nm centered at 1040 nm, which indicates a good potential for millijoule range sub 100fs pulse duration after compression. It is also a good candidate for seeding higher energy diode-pumped ytterbium lasers.

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Sandrine Ricaud, Martin Delaigue, Antoine Courjaud, Frédéric Druon, Patrick Georges, et al.. Broadband Yb:CaF2 regenerative amplifier for millijoule range ultrashort pulse amplification. SPIE Photonics West, frontiers in ultrafast optics: biomedical, scientific and industrial applications X, Jan 2010, San Francisco, United States. pp.7589-19. ⟨hal-00533640⟩