Abstract
We report on a simple, robust, femtosecond chirped-pulse-amplification system, based on Er- and Er-Yb-doped fibers, operating at a central wavelength of 1555 nm. The entire system is constructed from commercially available fiber components, except the grating compressor, for easy duplication by other researchers. The laser system produces chirped pulses with up to \(4\,\mu \hbox {J}\) of pulse energy at 250 kHz. After dechirping, the pulse duration is 410 fs and the pulse energy is reduced to \(2\,\mu \hbox {J}\). The repetition rate of the laser is electronically tunable between 125 kHz and 60 MHz, limited by strong amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) generation at the low end. The amplifier system is almost completely fiber integrated, except for the pump delivery into the final amplifier stage, which is free-space backward-pumped to reduce undesired nonlinear effects, and the compressor which was designed using the gratings. The laser is practically free of misalignment and has exhibited excellent long-term stability during its use in various experiments for more than 600 working hours.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
E. Fermann, I. Hartl, Ultrafast fibre lasers. Nat. Photon 7, 868–874 (2013)
C. Crotti, F. Deloison, F. Alahyane, F. Aptel, L. Kowalczuk, J.-M. Legeais, D.A. Peyrot, M. Savoldelli, K. Plamann, Wavelength optimization in femtosecond laser corneal surgery. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 54, 3340–3349 (2013)
K. Plamann, F. Aptel, C. Arnold, A. Courjaud, C. Crotti, F. Deloison, F. Druon, P. Georges, M. Hanna, J.-M. Legeais, F. Morin, E. Mottay, V. Nuzzo, D.A. Peyrot, M. Savoldelli, Ultrashort pulse laser surgery of the cornea and the sclera. J. Opt. 12, 084002 (2010)
M. Malinauskas, A. Zukauskas, S. Hasegawa, Y. Hayasaki, V. Mizeikis, R. Buividas, S. Juodkazis, Ultrafast laser processing of materials: from science to industry. Light Sci. Appl. 5, e16133 (2016)
R. Gattass, E. Mazur, Femtosecond laser micromachining in transparent materials. Nat. Photon. 2, 219–225 (2008)
V. Parsi Sreenivas, M. Bülters, R. Bergmann, Microsized subsurface modification of mono-crystalline silicon via non-linear absorption. J. Eur. Opt. Soc. Rapid Pub. 7, 12035 (2012)
B. Oktem, C. Ülgüdür, F.Ö. Ilday, Soliton-similariton fibre laser. Nat. Photon 4, 307–311 (2010)
I. Pavlov, O. Tokel, S. Pavlova, V. Kadan, G. Makey, A. Turnali, O. Yavuz, F.Ö. Ilday, Femtosecond laser written waveguides deep inside silicon. Opt. Lett. 42, 3028–3031 (2017)
D.J. Richardson, J. Nilsson, W.A. Clarkson, High power fiber lasers: current status and future perspectives [Invited]. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27, B63–B92 (2010)
I. Pavlov, E. Ilbey, E. Dulgergil, A. Bayri, F.Ö. Ilday, High-power high-repetition-rate single-mode Er-Yb-doped fiber laser system. Opt. Express 20, 9471–9475 (2012)
P. Elahi, H. Kalaycioglu, H. Li, Ö. Akcaalan, F.Ö. Ilday, 175 fs-long pulses from a high-power single-mode Er-doped fiber laser at 1550 nm. Opt. Commun. 403, 381–384 (2017)
S. Han, H. Jang, S. Kim, Y.-J. Kim, S.-W. Kim, MW peak power Er/Yb-doped fiber femtosecond laser amplifier at 1.5 m center wavelength. Laser Phys. Lett. 14, 080002 (2017)
F. Morin, F. Druon, M. Hanna, P. Georges, Microjoule femtosecond fiber laser at \(1.6\,\mu \text{ m }\) for corneal surgery applications. Opt. Lett. 34, 1991–1993 (2009)
G. Sobon, P. Kaczmarek, A. Gluszek, J. Sotor, K.M. Abramski, \(\mu\)J-level, kHz-repetition rate femtosecond fiber-CPA system at 1555 nm. Opt. Commun. 347, 8–12 (2015)
T. Yilmaz, L. Vaissie, M. Akbulut, D. Gaudiosi, L. Collura, T. Booth, J. C. Jasapara, M. J. Andrejco, A. D. Yablon, C. Headley, D. J. DiGiovanni, Large-mode-area Er-doped fiber chirped-pulse amplification system for high-energy sub-picosecond pulses at 1.55 m. In: Proceedings of SPIE 6873, Fiber Lasers V: Technology, Systems, and Applications 68731I, (2008)
X. Peng, K. Kim, M. Mielke, S. Jennings, G. Masor, D. Stohl, A. Chavez-Pirson, D. Nguyen, D. Rhonehouse, J. Zong, D. Churin, N. Peyghambarian, High efficiency, monolithic fiber chirped pulse amplification system for high energy femtosecond pulse generation. Opt. Express 21, 25440–25451 (2013)
X. Peng, K. Kim, M. Mielke, S. Jennings, G. Masor, D. Stohl, A. Chavez-Pirson, Dan T. Nguyen, D. Rhonehouse, J. Zong, D. Churin, N. Peyghambarian, Monolithic fiber chirped pulse amplification system for millijoule femtosecond pulse generation at \(1.55\,\mu \text{ m }\). Opt. Express 22, 2459–2464 (2014)
F.Ö. Ilday, H. Lim, J. Buckley, F.W. Wise, Practical, all-fiber source of high-power, 120-fs pulses at 1 micron. Opt. Lett. 28, 1362 (2003)
P.K. Mukhopadhyay, K. Özgören, L. Budunouğlu, F.Ö. Ilday, All-fiber low-noise high-power femtosecond Yb-fiber amplifier system seeded by an all-normal dispersion fiber oscillator. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 15, 145–152 (2009)
I. Pavlov, A. Rybak, C. Senel, F. Ö. Ilday, Balancing Gain Narrowing with Self Phase Modulation: 100-fs, 800-nJ from an All-Fiber-Integrated Yb Amplifier. Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe (CLEO EUROPE/IQEC) CJ65 (2013)
I. Pavlov, E. Dulgergil, E. Ilbey, F.Ö. Ilday, Diffraction-limited, 10-W, 5-ns, 100-kHz, all-fiber laser at \(1.55\,\mu \text{ m }\). Opt. Lett. 39, 2695–2698 (2014)
H. Kalaycıoğlu, Ö. Akcaalan, S. Yavas, Y.B. Eldeniz, F.Ö. Ilday, Burst-mode Yb-doped fiber amplifier system optimized for low-repetition-rate operation. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 32, 900–906 (2015)
S. Yilmaz, P. Elahi, H. Kalaycıoğlu, F.Ö. Ilday, Amplified spontaneous emission in high-power burst-mode fiber lasers. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 32, 2462–2466 (2015)
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TÜBITAK) (114F256). This work was funded, in part, by the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant ERC-617521 NLL. The authors acknowledge discussions with Parviz Elahi and Ö. Akcaalan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pavlova, S., Rezaei, H., Pavlov, I. et al. Generation of 2-\(\mu\)J 410-fs pulses from a single-mode chirped-pulse fiber laser operating at 1550 nm. Appl. Phys. B 124, 201 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-018-7065-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-018-7065-z