High-energy few-cycle Yb-doped fiber amplifier source based on a single nonlinear compression stage

Abstract : A simple, compact, and efficient few-cycle laser source at a central wavelength of 1 µm is presented. The system is based on a high-energy femtosecond ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier delivering 130 fs, 250 µJ pulses at 200 kHz, corresponding to 1.5 GW of peak power and an average power of 50 W. The unprecedented short pulse duration at the output of this system is obtained by use of spectral intensity and phase shaping, allowing for both gain narrowing mitigation and the compensation of the nonlinear accumulated spectral phase. This laser source is followed by a single-stage of nonlinear compression in a xenon-filled capillary, allowing for the generation of 14 fs, 120 µJ pulses at 200 kHz resulting in 24 W of average power. High-harmonic generation driven by this type of source will trigger numerous new applications in the XUV range and attosecond science.