Abstract

A 2-μm wavelength laser delivering up to 39-mJ energy, $\sim 10\mathrm{ps}$ duration pulses at 100-Hz repetition rate is reported. The system relies on chirped pulse amplification (CPA): a modelocked Er:Tm:Ho fiber-seeder is followed by a Ho:YLF-based regenerative amplifier and a cryogenically cooled Ho:YLF single pass amplifier. Stretching and compressing are performed with large aperture chirped volume Bragg gratings (CVBG). At a peak power of 3.3 GW, the stability was $<1\%\mathrm{rms}$ over 1 h, confirming high suitability for OPCPA and extreme nonlinear optics applications.

© 2015 Optical Society of America

Table-top high-energy 7  μm OPCPA and 260  mJ Ho:YLF pump laser

U. Elu, T. Steinle, D. Sánchez, L. Maidment, K. Zawilski, P. Schunemann, U. D. Zeitner, C. Simon-Boisson, and J. Biegert
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Ho:YLF chirped pulse amplification at kilohertz repetition rates – 4.3 ps pulses at 2 μm with GW peak power

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Optica 3(2) 147-150 (2016)

Picosecond 34 mJ pulses at kHz repetition rates from a Ho:YLF amplifier at 2 µm wavelength

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Opt. Express 23(26) 33142-33149 (2015)

Overcoming bifurcation instability in high-repetition-rate Ho:YLF regenerative amplifiers

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Opt. Lett. 40(23) 5427-5430 (2015)