High-brightness fiber laser-pumped 68 fs-2.3 W Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:CaF2 oscillator

Opt Lett. 2013 Oct 15;38(20):4008-10. doi: 10.1364/OL.38.004008.

Abstract

By using a high-brightness fiber pump laser, we demonstrate a pure Kerr-lens mode-locked (ML) Yb:CaF(2) oscillator. The laser delivers 68 fs pulses with 2.3 W average power at 73 MHz repetition rate and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 33% is achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of Kerr-lens mode-locking in Yb:CaF(2). Incidentally, we report here the highest average power ever achieved for a sub-100-fs active Kerr-lens ML Yb-bulk oscillator.