Dual-gain SESAM modelocked thin disk laser based on Yb:Lu_2O_3 and Yb:Sc_2O_3

Abstract

Abstract:We present for the first time a SESAM-modelocked thin-disk laser (TDL) that incorporates two gain materials with different emission spectra in a single TDL resonator. The two gain media used in this experiment are the sesquioxide materials Yb:Lu 2 O 3 and Yb:Sc 2 O 3 , which have their spectral emission peak displaced by ≈7 nm. We can benefit from a combined gain bandwidth that is wider than the one provided by a single gain material alone and still conserve the excellent thermal properties of each disk. In these first proof-of-principle experiments we demonstrate pulse durations shorter than previously achieved with the single gain material Yb:Lu 2 O 3 . The oscillator generates pulses as short as 103 fs at a repetition rate of 41.7 MHz and a center wavelength of around 1038 nm, with an average output power of 1.4 W. A different cavity layout provides pulses with a duration of 124 fs at an output power of 8.6 W. This dual-gain approach should allow for further power scaling of TDLs and these first results prove this method to be a promising new way to combine the record output-power performance of modelocked TDLs with short pulse durations in the sub-100 fs regime. Matuschek, and J. Aus der Au, "Semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) for femtosecond to nanosecond pulse generation in solid-state lasers," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 2(3), 435-453 (1996). 2. A. Giesen, H. Hügel, A. Voss, K. Wittig, U. Brauch, and H. Opower, "Scalable concept for diode-pumped highpower solid-state lasers," Appl. Phys. B 58(5), 365-372 (1994). Published in Optics Express, 22, issue 16, 18979-18986, 2014 which should be used for any reference to this work 1 Stolow, U. Thumm, and M. J. J. Vrakking, "What will it take to observe processes in 'real time'?" Nat. Photonics 8(3), 162-166 (2014

Rare-Earth-Doped Sesquioxides for Diode-Pumped High-Power Lasers in the 1-, 2-, and 3-μm Spectral Range

“…Therefore, recently the approach of different gain media in one resonator was also applied for thin disk lasers. In a proof-of-principle experiment 138 fs at an average output power of 3.6 W were obtained [17]; an improved performance can be expected soon. Also ceramics have been applied for ultrafast thin disk lasers.…”

Generation of 35-fs pulses from a Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:Lu_2O_3 thin-disk laser

“…Overcoming the trade-off between output power and pulse duration by providing compact and simple laser oscillators delivering hundreds of watts and tens of micro-joules in sub-100-fs pulses will simplify many existing experiments and open new application areas. Overview of sub-170-fs mode-locked thin-disk lasers based on Yb-doped materials [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The results presented in this article are highlighted with star symbols.…”

A Decade of Sub‐100‐fs Thin‐Disk Laser Oscillators

“…[58] The first TDL oscillator which reached the 100-fs milestone was demonstrated three years later in 2012 using Yb:LuScO as gain medium and an optimized fast-recovery-time SESAM. [21] Many other gain materials have been utilized in the thin-disk geometry in order to allow for efficient short-pulse operation including Yb:KLuW, [16] Yb:CALGO, [22,25,26,29,43] Yb:LuO, [14,17,18,23,40,41,51] Yb:ScO, [30] and Yb:LuScO, [21] as shown in Figure 3. Another development direction of TDL oscillators leads toward operation at longer wavelength of 2 μm based on Ho:YAG.…”

“…The numbers in the markers correspond to the references. [ 9–57 ] The underlying data used for generation of the graphs are also provided in the Appendix in Table A1.…”