Generation of 2-nJ pulses from a femtosecond ytterbium fiber laser

We report a mode-locked ytterbium fiber laser that generates femtosecond pulses with energies as large as 2.2 nJ. This represents a 20-fold improvement in pulse energy compared with that of previously reported femtosecond Yb fiber lasers. The laser produces pulses as short as 52 fs, which are to our knowledge the shortest pulses to date from a Yb fiber laser. The laser is diode pumped by a wavelength-division multiplexing coupler, which leads to excellent stability.     

Generation of 47-fs pulses directly from an erbium-doped fiber laser

We show both numerically and experimentally that through appropriately selecting the output coupling position and strength in a mode-locked fiber laser, one can effectively manage the nonlinearity of the cavity. By implementing the technique together with cavity dispersion management in an erbium-doped fiber laser, we have achieved stable mode-locked pulses with a single-pulse energy of 2.08 nJ and pulse width of 46.2 fs directly from the laser.     

Observation of wave-breaking-free square pulses in a fiber ring laser

We experimentally and numerically demonstrate the generation of square pulses without any wave-breaking in a fiber ring laser. A segment of nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber is used to increase the laser cavity length and to optimize the parameters of the laser cavity. In the experiment, the pulse width can be tuned in a wide range from13.5 to 119.5 ns without wave-breaking while the peak power remains almost constant. The maximum singlepulse energy is up to 65.58 n J at a pump power of 508 m W. Numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental results. Numerical results also reveal the role of cavity length and nonlinearity in generating a square pulse without pulse breakup.     

Practical all-fiber source of high-power, 120-fs pulses at 1 micrometre

Amplification of femtosecond pulses at 1.03 micrometre in a standard Yb-doped single-mode fiber is reported. A pulse energy of 8 nJ and an average power of 400 mW are obtained, limited by available pump power. To our knowledge these are the highest pulse energy and average power obtained from an integrated, single-mode fiber amplifier. After dechirping, 120-fs, 6-nJ pulses are obtained. A practical fiber-based source with performance comparable with that of a bulk solid-state laser is thus demonstrated, and scaling to substantially higher powers will be possible.     

Generation of 5-fs pulses and octave-spanning spectra directly from a Ti:sapphire laser

Spectra extending from 600 to 1200 nm have been generated from a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser producing 5-fs pulses. Specially designed double-chirped mirror pairs provide broadband controlled dispersion, and a second intracavity focus in a glass plate provides additional spectral broadening. These spectra are to our knowledge the broadest ever generated directly from a laser oscillator.     

Generation of 60-nJ sub-40-fs pulses at 70 MHz repetition rate from a Ti:sapphire chirped pulse-oscillator

We have studied the influence of the intracavity dispersion on the mode-locking characteristics of pure-Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse oscillators. Using the results of this study, we have built chirped-pulse oscillators that can be mode-locked when pumped with the highest pump powers commercially available at 532 nm. We generated 62 nJ pulses at 70 MHz repetition rate, with a Fourier limited duration of 33 fs. PACS 42.60.Fc; 42.60.Lh; 42.65.Re     

Generation of 3.8-fs pulses from adaptive compression of a cascaded hollow fiber supercontinuum

We demonstrate generation of 3.8-fs pulses with energies of up to 15 microJ from a supercontinuum produced in two cascaded hollow fibers. Ultrabroadband dispersion compensation was achieved through a closed-loop combination of a spatial light modulator for adaptive pulse compression and spectral-phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER) measurements as feedback signal.     

Generation of 0.1-TW 5-fs optical pulses at a 1-kHz repetition rate

A compact all-solid-state femtosecond Ti:sapphire oscillator?amplifier system using no grating-based pulse stretcher produces 20-fs, 1.5-mJ pulses at a 1-kHz repetition rate. The pulses are subsequently compressed in a hollow-fiber chirped-mirror compressor. The system delivers bandwidth-limited 5-fs, 0.5-mJ pulses at 780 nm in a diffraction-limited beam.     

Generation of 12-fs pulses from a diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser

We demonstrate 12-fs-pulse generation from a diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser. This is to our knowledge the shortest pulse ever produced from a mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser. Based on an improved estimation of the intracavity dispersions, we utilized BK7 glass for the Brewster-prism-pair material.     

Generation of 8-fs pulses at 390 nm

We demonstrated the generation of pulses as short as approximately 8 fs at 390 nm, with an average power of 80 mW by frequency-doubling the output of a sub-10-fs, 1.2-MW Ti:sapphire oscillator. Cross-correlation technique was employed to measure the pulse duration. To our knowledge, these are the shortest pulses produced in the violet-blue spectral range at high repetition rates so far.     

Generation of 15-nJ bunched noise-like pulses with 93-nm bandwidth in an erbium-doped fiber ring laser

We report on the generation of high power superbroad spectrum bunched noise-like pulses from a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring laser without using the stretched-pulse technique. The maximum 3-dB spectral bandwidth of the noise-like pulses is about 93 nm with an energy of about 15 nJ. We further show numerically that the superbroad spectrum of the pulses is caused by the transform-limited feature of the pulses together with the Raman self-frequency shift effect. PACS 42.65.Dr; 42.55.Wd; 42.60.Fc; 42.81.Dp     

Generation of quasimonoenergetic electron bunches with 80-fs laser pulses

Highly collimated, quasimonoenergetic multi-MeV electron bunches were generated by the interaction of tightly focused, 80-fs laser pulses in a high-pressure gas jet. These monoenergetic bunches are characteristic of wakefield acceleration in the highly nonlinear wave breaking regime, which was previously thought to be accessible only by much shorter laser pulses in thinner plasmas. In our experiment, the initially long laser pulse was modified in underdense plasma to match the necessary conditions. This picture is confirmed by semianalytical scaling laws and 3D particle-in-cell simulations. Our results show that laser-plasma interaction can drive itself towards this type of laser wakefield acceleration even if the initial laser and plasma parameters are outside the required regime.     

Generation of intense 8-fs pulses at 400 nm

Frequency-doubled pulses from a sub-40-fs, 1-kHz Ti:sapphire amplifier system are spectrally broadened in an argon-filled hollow waveguide. Compression of the self-phase-modulated pulses is implemented with chirped mirrors and a prism pair, yielding 8-fs, 15-muJ pulses in the violet spectral range.     

12-fs pulses from a continuous-wave-pumped 200-nJ Ti:sapphire amplifier at a variable repetition rate as high as 4 MHz

We demonstrate a novel compact femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system operating at repetition rates from 10 kHz to 4 MHz. The scheme is based on the combination of a broadband cavity-dumped oscillator and a double-pass Ti:sapphire amplifier pumped by a low-noise cw solid-state laser. Amplified pulses with an extremely smooth spectrum, a duration of only 12 fs, and less than 0.25% rms fluctuation are generated in a beam with M2 < 1.2. A maximum pulse energy of 210 nJ and an average output power of as much as 720 mW are achieved. This output energy is sufficient to generate a stable continuum in a sapphire disk.     

Environmentally stable ytterbium figure-of-eight fiber laser producing 177-fs pulses

Pulses of 177 fs and 1035 nm, with average power of 1.2 mW, have been generated directly from a passively mode-locked Yb-doped figure-of-eight fiber laser, with a nonlinear optical loop mirror for mode-locking and pairs of diffraction gratings for intracavity dispersion compensation. To our knowledge, these are the shortest pulses ever to come from a passively mode-locked Yb-doped figure-of-eight fiber laser. This represents a 5-fold reduction in pulse duration compared with that of previously reported passively mode-locked Yb-doped figure-of-eight fiber lasers. Stable pulse trains are produced at the fundamental repetition rate of the resonator, 24.0 MHz.     

Self-starting 6.5-fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser

We demonstrate self-starting 6.5-fs pulses from a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser with 200-mW average output power at a pulse repetition rate of ~86 M Hz. This is to our knowledge the shortest pulse ever generated directly from a laser. For dispersion compensation we used a prism pair in combination with double-chirped mirrors, which balances the higher-order dispersion of the prism pair and therefore flattens the average total group-delay dispersion in the laser cavity. For self-starting mode locking we used a broadband semiconductor saturable-absorber mirror.     

60-fs pulses from a diode-pumped Nd:glass laser

We demonstrate 60-fs pulses with an average output power of 84 mW from a diode-pumped Nd:glass laser mode locked by a low-finesse antiresonant Fabry-Perot saturable absorber (A-FPSA). The mode-locked spectrum spreads over most of the available Nd:glass fluorescence bandwidth. At increased pulse energy fluence or decreased negative group-velocity dispersion, multiple pulsing was observed. We experimentally characterize this behavior, which can be explained by the saturation behavior of the A-FPSA and the limited available gain bandwidth. These considerations are significant for the design of saturable absorbers to achieve stable passive mode locking.     

Direct generation of 128-fs Gaussian pulses from a compensation-free fiber laser using dual mode-locking mechanisms

We have experimentally demonstrated the direct generation of 128-fs pulses in an all-anomalous-dispersion all-fiber mode-locked laser. The laser is free of dispersion compensation in the cavity based on standard single mode fiber (SMF). The time-bandwidth product is 0.536. The laser is achieved by using two mode-lockers, one is nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR), and the other is nonlinear amplifying loop mirror. The coexistence of dual mode-locking mechanisms can decrease the cavity length to 12-m, and also results in producing high-quality pulses with a Gaussian shape both on the pulse profile and spectrum, but without Kelly sidebands.     

Generation of high average power, 7.5-fs blue pulses at 5 kHz by adaptive phase control

The spectral width of a 5-kHz Ti:sapphire laser system was broadened by spectral control in a regenerative amplifier consisting of broadband chirped mirrors. The dispersion over the wide spectral range was compensated by a deformable mirror along with a genetic algorithm, resulting in a pulse width of 15 fs. The pulse width is the shortest, to our knowledge, in chirped pulse amplification systems with a regenerative amplifier. The phase distortion of broadband frequency doubling in addition to the Ti:sapphire laser was compensated by using the self-diffraction intensity in sapphire as the feedback signal into the genetic algorithm, resulting in a pulse width of 7.5 fs. The average power of the second harmonic was 1 W with a fundamental input of 7 W.