Direct amplification of ultrashort pulses in μ-pulling-down Yb:YAG single crystal fibers

Yoann Zaouter (1) , Igor Martial (2) , Nicolas Aubry (2) , Julien Didierjean (2) , Clemens Hönninger (1) , Eric Mottay (1) , Frédéric Druon (3) , Patrick Georges (3)

1 Amplitude Systèmes
2 Fibercryst
3 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Elsa

We demonstrated that Yb:YAG single crystal fibers have a strong potential for the amplification of femtosecond pulses. Seeded by 230 fs pulses with an average power of 400 mW at 30 MHz delivered by a passively mode-locked Yb:KYW oscillator, the system produced 330 fs pulses with an average power of 12 W. This is the shortest pulse duration ever produced by an Yb:YAG amplifier. The gain in the single crystal fiber reached a value as high as 30 in a simple double-pass configuration.

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Yoann Zaouter, Igor Martial, Nicolas Aubry, Julien Didierjean, Clemens Hönninger, et al.. Direct amplification of ultrashort pulses in μ-pulling-down Yb:YAG single crystal fibers. Optics Letters, 2011, 36 (5), pp.748. ⟨hal-00812597⟩