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Optical rectification of ultrafast Yb lasers: pushing power and bandwidth of terahertz generation in GaP

, Drs, Jakub, Modsching, Norbert, Paradis, Clément, Kränkel, Christian, Wittwer, Valentin Johannes, Razskazovskaya, Olga, Südmeyer, Thomas

We demonstrate broadband high-power terahertz (THz) generation at megahertz repetition rates by optical rectification in GaP driven by an ultrafast Yb-based thin-disk laser (TDL) oscillator. We investigate the influence of pulse duration in the range of 50–220 fs and thickness of the GaP crystal on the THz generation. Optimization of these parameters with respect to the broadest spectral bandwidth yields a gap-less THz spectrum extending to nearly 7 THz. We further tailor the driving laser and the THz generation parameters for the highest average power, demonstrating 0.3 mW THz radiation with a spectrum extending to 5 THz. This was achieved using a 0.5 mm thick GaP crystal pumped with a 95 fs, 20 W TDL, operating at 48 MHz repetition rate. We also provide a simple method to estimate the THz spectrum, which can be used for design and optimization of similar THz systems.

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Carrier-envelope offset frequency stabilization of a thin-disk laser oscillator operating in the strongly self-phase modulation broadened regime

, Modsching, Norbert, Paradis, Clément, Brochard, Pierre, Jornod, Nayara, Gürel, Kutan, Kränkel, Christian, Schilt, Stephane, Wittwer, Valentin, Südmeyer, Thomas

We demonstrate the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency stabilization of a Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk laser oscillator operating in the strongly self-phase modulation (SPM) broadened regime. This novel approach allows overcoming the intrinsic gain bandwidth limit and is suited to support frequency combs from sub-100-fs pulse trains with very high output power. In this work, strong intra-oscillator SPM in the Kerr medium enables the optical spectrum of the oscillating pulse to exceed the bandwidth of the gain material Yb: Lu2O3 by a factor of two. This results in the direct generation of 50-fs pulses without the need for external pulse compression. The oscillator delivers an average power of 4.4 W at a repetition rate of 61 MHz. We investigated the cavity dynamics in this regime by characterizing the transfer function of the laser output power for pump power modulation, both in continuous-wave and mode-locked operations. The cavity dynamics in mode-locked operation limit the CEO modulation bandwidth to ~10 kHz. This value is sufficient to achieve a tight phase-lock of the CEO beat via active feedback to the pump current and yields a residual in-loop integrated CEO phase noise of 197 mrad integrated from 1 Hz to 1 MHz.

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Broadband terahertz pulse generation driven by an ultrafast thin-disk laser oscillator

, Clément, Paradis, Drs, Jakub, Modsching, Norbert, Razskazovskaya, Olga, Meyer, Frank, Kränkel, Christian, Saraceno, Clara J, Wittwer, Valentin, Südmeyer, Thomas

We demonstrate broadband THz generation driven by an ultrafast thin-disk laser (TDL) oscillator. By optical rectification of 50-fs pulses at 61 MHz repetition rate in a collinear geometry in crystalline GaP, THz radiation with a central frequency at around 3.4 THz and a spectrum extending from below 1 THz to nearly 7 THz are generated. We realized a spectroscopic characterization of a GaP crystal and a benchmark measurement of the water-vapor absorption spectrum in the THz range. Sub-50-GHz resolution is achieved within a 5 THz bandwidth. Our experiments show the potential of ultrafast TDL oscillators for driving MHz-repetition-rate broadband THz systems.

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XUV Sources Based on Intra-Oscillator High Harmonic Generation with Thin-Disk Lasers: Current Status and Prospects

, Labaye, François, Gaponenko, Maxim, Modsching, Norbert, Brochard, Pierre, Paradis, Clément, Schilt, Stephane, Wittwer, Valentin Johannes, Südmeyer, Thomas

Ultrafast thin-disk laser (TDL) oscillators provide higher intracavity pulse energy, average power, and peak power levels than any other femtosecond laser oscillator technology. They are suitable for driving extreme nonlinear interactions directly inside the laser oscillator. High harmonic generation (HHG) driven inside ultrafast TDL oscillators is a very recent approach for the generation of coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light at multi-megahertz repetition rates. In this paper, we review the current state of the development, discuss the technological potential, and give an outlook toward the future developments. We compare the current performance to established technologies and evalu-ate possible limitations. We discuss future improvements, such as reduction of the driving pulse duration and increase of the intracavity peak power, efficient extraction of the XUV light from the cavity, and carrier-envelope offset frequency stabilization of the generated XUV light. Due to the power scalability of the TDL concept and the possibility to operate in a spectrally broadened regime with pulse durations below the gain bandwidth limitation, intra-oscillator HHG with TDLs has a high potential for powerful table-top multi-megahertz coherent XUV light sources for science and applications.

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Carrier-Envelope Offset Frequency Stabilization of a Thin-Disk Laser Oscillator via Depletion Modulation

, Andrade, José R. C, Modsching, Norbert, Tajalli, Ayhan, Dietrich, Christian M, Kleinert, Sven, Placzek, Fabian, Kreipe, Bernhard, Schilt, Stephane, Wittwer, Valentin, Südmeyer, Thomas, Morgner, Uwe

We present a novel concept for the stabilization of the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency of femtosecond pulse trains from thin-disk laser oscillators by exploiting gain depletion modulation in the active gain region. We shine a small fraction of the laser output power back onto the thin disk allowing the population inversion in the gain medium to be controlled. We employ this technique in our home-built Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk laser and benchmark the performance against the proven technique of pump current modulation for CEO stabilization, showing that the two techniques have equivalent performance. The new method which only requires an additional AOM demonstrates a scalable and cost-effective method for CEO stabilization of high-power laser oscillators.

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Sub-100-fs Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk laser oscillator operating at 21 W average power

, Modsching, Norbert, Drs, Jakub, Fischer, Julien, Paradis, Clément, Labaye, François, Gaponenko, Maxim, Kränkel, Christian, Wittwer, Valentin, Südmeyer, Thomas

We investigate power-scaling of a Kerr lens mode-locked (KLM) Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk laser (TDL) oscillator operating in the sub-100-fs pulse duration regime. Employing a scheme with higher round-trip gain by increasing the number of passes through the thin-disk gain element, we increase the average power by a factor of two and the optical-to-optical efficiency by a factor of almost three compared to our previous sub-100-fs mode-locking results. The oscillator generates pulses with a duration of 95 fs at 21.1 W average power and 47.9 MHz repetition rate. We discuss the cavity design for continuous-wave and mode-locked operation and the estimation of the focal length of the Kerr lens. Unlike to usual KLM TDL oscillators, an operation at the edge of the stability zone in continuous-wave operation is not required. This work shows that KLM TDL oscillators based on the gain material Yb:Lu2O3 are an excellent choice for power-scaling of laser oscillators in the sub-100-fs regime, and we expect that such lasers will soon operate at power levels in excess of hundred watts.

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Generation of 35-fs pulses from a Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk laser

, Paradis, Clément, Modsching, Norbert, Wittwer, Valentin, Deppe, Bastian, Kränkel, Christian, Südmeyer, Thomas

We investigate Kerr lens mode locking of Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk laser oscillators operating in the sub-100-fs regime. Pulses as short as 35 fs were generated at an average output power of 1.6 W. These are the shortest pulses directly emitted from a thin-disk laser oscillator. The optical spectrum of the 35-fs pulses is almost 3 times broader than the corresponding emission band of the gain crystal. At slightly longer pulse duration of 49 fs, we achieve an average power of 4.5 W. In addition, 10.7 W are obtained in 88-fs pulses, which is twice higher than the previous power record for ultrafast thin-disk lasers generating pulses shorter than 100 fs. Our results prove that Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 thin-disk lasers are a promising technology for further average power and pulse energy scaling of ultrafast high-power oscillators operating in the sub-100-fs regime.

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Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:CALGO thin-disk laser

, Modsching, Norbert, Paradis, Clément, Labaye, François, Gaponenko, Maxim, Graumann, Ivan J, Diebold, Andreas, Emaury, Florian, Wittwer, Valentin, Südmeyer, Thomas

We demonstrate the first Kerr lens mode-locked Yb:CaGdAlO4 (Yb:CALGO) thin-disk laser oscillator. It generates pulses with a duration of 30 fs at a central wavelength of 1048 nm and a repetition rate of 124 MHz. The laser emits the shortest pulses generated by a thin-disk laser oscillator, equal to the shortest pulse duration obtained by Yb-doped bulk oscillators. The average output power is currently limited to 150 mW by the low gain and limited disk quality. We expect that more suitable Yb:CALGO disks will enable substantially higher power levels with similar pulse durations.