A 1.78 μJ and 285fs Yb:CaF2 SESAM-modelocked thin-disk oscillator

We present a SESAM-modelocked Yb:CaF2 thin-disk laser designed for pulse durations below 300 fs and high peak powers of more than 5 MW. A cavity for fundamental mode operation (beam quality factor M2 below 1.2) was set up and modelocked using a SESAM. An average output power of up to 17.8 W was obtained at a repetition-rate of 10 MHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of approximately 1.8 μJ. The pulse duration was measured to be 285 fs, therefore a peak power of 5.5 MW was attained. Our research enables a comparison of the potential of Yb:CaF2 with other Yb-doped crystals with broad gain bandwidth in thin-disk laser technology. We conclude from our results that this gain material is very promising for high pulse energies and high peak powers.

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