Abstract
Calcium fluoride has raised a great interest in the laser community since its revival in 2004 [1,2] when it has been doped with ytterbium ions. Thanks to its broad emission bandwidth, its good thermal properties and its strong energy-storage ability, Yb:CaF2 is particularly suitable for high-energy, high-power femtosecond laser systems [2,3]. Nevertheless, due to the very long lifetime of Yb:CaF2 and its low nonlinear refractive index (1.6 10-20 m2/W), the stable sub-100-fs mode-locking operation (ML) of Yb:CaF2 remains challenging and very few works have reported operation in this regime [4]. Up to now, the ML of Yb:CaF2 oscillators has only been achieved using a saturable absorber mirror to produce stable femtosecond pulses. We report, to the best of our knowledge, on the first demonstration of sub-70 fs pulses Kerr Lens Mode locked oscillator in Yb:CaF2 by means of a high-brightness pump source [5]
© 2013 IEEE
PDF ArticleMore Like This
P. Sévillano, G. Machinet, R. Dubrasquet, P. Camy, J.-L. Doualan, R. Moncorgé, P. Georges, F. Druon, D. Descamps, and E. Cormier
AF3A.6 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 2013
P. Sévillano, G. Machinet, R. Dubrasquet, P. Camy, J.-L. Doualan, R. Moncorgé, P. Georges, F. Druon, D. Descamps, and E. Cormier
JW2A.41 CLEO: Applications and Technology (CLEO:A&T) 2014
G. Machinet, F. Guichard, R. Dubrasquet, J. Boullet, P. Camy, J.-L. Doualan, R. Moncorgé, S. Ricaud, P. Georges, F. Druon, D. Descamps, and E. Cormier
AM4A.9 Advanced Solid-State Photonics (ASSL) 2012